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rHTON~ BROS 



EATER. 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

IN THE 

EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO 

A NARRATIVE OF TRAVEL AND EXPLORATION 

From 1878 to 1S83 



HENEY O. FORBES, F.E.G.S. 

MEMBER OF THE SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY ; FELLOW OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON 

MEMBER OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND 

MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGIST'S UNION 



WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE AUTHOR'S SKETCHES 
AND DESCRIPTIONS BY MR. JOHN B. GIBBS 




NEW YORK 
HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN 

1S85 



TO 

THE MEMOEY 

OF 
MY FRIEND AND CLASS-FELLOW AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, 

2HiUtam Elexantrn* jfotfies, 

B.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., &c, 
FELLOW OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; 
PROSECTOR TO THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON; 

WHO DIED IN AFRICA IN JANUARY, 1883, 

WHILE LEADING A SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION ALONG THE RIVER NIGER; 

AND WHO, ALREADY EMINENT FOR ENDURING WORK 
ACCOMPLISHED IN ZOOLOGICAL SCIENCE, 

WAS IN FUTURE PROMISE PRE-EMINENT OVER ALL OF HIS TIME, 

^his Volume is afteclitfuaielg iStbirattb, 



PREFACE. 



Mr. A. E. Wallace's ' Malay Archipelago ' is so accurate and 
exhaustive au account of the Eastern Isles, that there have 
been left but few gleanings for those who have followed him 
to gather. Most of the islands visited by me were also visited 
by him ; but my route has in each island been altogether 
different from his. In as far as it refers to islands visited by 
both of us, I should desire this volume, which is a mere 
transcript of what I have thought the more interesting of 
the field notes made during my wanderings, to be considered 
in the light of an addendum to — unfortunately without any 
of the literary elegance and finish of — that model book of 
travel. 

No detailed account of the Timor-laut Islands has appeared 
before the present ; and very little has been published on the 
inhabitants of the interior of Timor.* In the chapters devoted 
to these lands I have contributed some ethnological notes which 
I trust may be found new and of interest. 

Before I allow this volume to leave my hands, I have the 
pleasant task of acknowledging my indebtedness to many 
friends. Besides those whose kindness I have referred to in 
the body of this work, I have in the first instance to beg their 
Excellencies Van Lansberge and 'Sjacob, the two Governors- 
General of Netherlands India during my stay in the Archi- 
pelago, to accept my grateful acknowledgments for their many 

* 'As Possessoes Portugezas na Oceania, por Affonso do Castro, membro da 
Sociedade de Sciencias e Artcs de Batavia ; Deputado da nacao, &c, ex- 
Governador de Timor: Lisboa, 1867,' contains an interesting account of some 
of the customs of the people of E. Timor. 



PREFACE. 

and the aid -ranted to me as a scientific 

;;. ; . Mv th.mks are due also to all the civil officials— 

numerous to name here— whose districts I resided in or 

trough. They upheld the well-deserved fame that the 

Dutch-Indian Ambtenars have earned for their hospitality. 

mention of each of their districts is indelibly associated 

in my remembrance with their names and their numerous acts 

of kindness, 1 may be permitted to record the names of those 

to whom I am nnder special obligation: Governor Laging 

Tobias, then Resident of Palembang; Assistant-Resident 

ivlinburch, of Muara-d.ua; Controllers De Heer and Bey- 

rinck, of th<' Lampong Residency; and Controllers Van der 

Volk, Risgen, and Kamp, of the Palembang Residency. 

.To Dr. Treub and J>r. Burck, of the Botanical Gardens in 
Buitenzorg, I am peculiarly indebted for more than ordinary 
of courtesy and friendship; as well as to Dr. Bernelot 
H s, Director of the Cinchona Plantations. To His Ex- 
cellency Senhor, Bento da Franca Pinto d' Oliveira, the 
: aor of Portuguese Timor, to his whole family, and to his 
son Benhor Bento da Franca Salema, Government Secretary, 
my wife and myself lie under the deepest indebtedness, not 
alone for the aid and protection I was so generously provided 
with to enable me to visit the interior of that interesting island, 
but for the most affectionate kindness manifested to us both 
throughout our stay in Timor. 

HI'. Jamieson, Mr. J. Craig and Mr. C. Haliburton, 
who did for as many acts of personal kindness and friendship 
while in Java, I tender my sincerest thanks. 

1 I' press my very hearty obligations to the British 

Committee tor the exploration of Timor-laut 

"' P- 1- Sclater; to Mr. Carruthers and the 

of the British Museum lor their aid in arranging 

r Herbarium, and for their describing it in time to 

^e appendices of this volume; to Messrs! 
' "• Rm % «* •'• Quelch,of the Zoological Department; 



PREFACE. 



and to Mr. K. Bowcller Sharpe for his kind revision of the proof 
sheets of the ornithological lists, as well as for his willing aid 
in the determination of the birds I obtained. 

It was Mr. H. W. Bates, the Author of the ' Naturalist on 
the Amazons,' who in my boyhood first inspired me with a desire 
to visit the tropics ; and he, in later years, has ever with ready 
cheerfulness aided my inexperience by sound aud friendly 
advice. 

Lastly but chiefly, I must acknowledge a heavy debt of 
gratitude to my friend Alexander Comyns, LL.B., of the 
Middle Temple, for more acts of kindness, as my constant 
correspondent and counsellor during my absence, than can be 
ever sufficiently acknowledged or repaid. 

I cannot close without adding one word of recognition of 
the companion of my travels, whose constant encouragement 
and valued aid lighten all my labours. 



Henry 0. Forbes. 



Rubislaw Den, Aberdeen, 
January 30, 1885. 



CONTENTS. 



PAET I. 
IN TEE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 



CHAPTER I. 

IN BATAVIA AND BUITENZORG. 

PAQE 

Arrival in Batavia — First impressions — Buitenzorg and its Botanical 

Gardens.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 3 

CHAPTER II. 

SOJOURN IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 

Start for the Cocos-Keeling Islands — In the Straits of Sunda — An unex- 
pected pilot — Arrival— History of the colony there — Terrible cyclones 
— Home life of the colonists now — The reef and its builders — Fishes 
in the lagoon — Crabs and their operations — Plant life — Insect life — 
Mammals — Birds .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 11 

CHAPTER III. 

SOJOURN IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS (continued). 

Coral reef formation — Observations on the elevation or subsidence of the 

Keeling Atoll. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 35 

Appendix to Pakt I. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 42 



PART II. 
IN JAVA. 



CHAPTER L 

SOJOURN AT GENTENG IN BANTAM. 

On the road— The Sundanese language— Every man a naturalist — Bird- 
life at Genteng — Weaver-birds' nests — A native rural bazaar — Forest 
devastation — Geological structure of the district — A wonderful case 
of mimicry in a spider. .. .. .. .. .. .. •• 51 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEB II. 

:N AT KOBALA IN' BANTAM. 



PART III. 
IN SUMATRA. 

CHAPTER I. 

SOJOURN IX THE LAMP0XGS. 



Mok-betong— Lampong Bay-Telok-betong— Leave 

;-t«tahan— Forest scenery by the way— Escape from a 

'1- rorest-Gedong-tetahan— Birds and insects 

tta^jawa-The village— Ruthless destruction of 

•Entom. 4, gical treasures-Move to Gunun- Tran» 

e pepper tra there-Interesting butterflies .. .? 

CHAPTER II. 
» Tin. lakpongs (continued). 

nge B-Theirhnguage-Divisionsof the province 



PAGE 



LetkSi I Badjira— Hot springs of Tjipanas 

Invitation to Kosala— The kosala 

disease Lata— The Wau-wau— Birds— Bees— 

Lons drought and its consequences— 1 he 

goid blight and the buffalo disease— Flora 

i Mountains— Singular living ants' nests and their 

• irchids at Kosala and some curious devices for secur- 

\ m remains in the forest — The Karangs 

-The Badui— Religion and superstitions of the 

Bantam— Leave Kosala .. .. .. .. .. 66 

CHAPTER III. 

SOJOURN AT FENOBLBKGAN, IN' THE PREANGER REGENCIES. 

for the Preanger Regencies — Journey to Bandong in a 

dong — Thence to Pengelengan — Visit to the famous 

1 iovernment — Plant-life in the surrounding 

mountain- -The Upas-tree— Crater flora — Land slips and the 

: rain — Interesting birds — The Badger-headed Mydaus — The 

wild cattle— Wild dogs — Leave Pengelengan for Batavia 105 

A it-en in x to P.u:t II. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. H8 



125 



CONTENTS. 



— Titles and dignities — Ornaments — Festivities and amusemeuts — 
Marriage customs — Move to Penanggungan — Petroleum and paraffin 
matches — Penanggungan — Great trees — Interesting plants and 
animals — The Siamang — Move to Terratas — Ascent of the Ten- 
garnus Mountain — Its tioraand fauna — Return to Penanggungan and 
to Batavia .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 139 



CHAPTER III. 

SOJOURN IN THE PALEMBANG RESIDENCY. 

From Batavia to Anjer — Return to Telok-Betong — Proceed toBeneawang 
— Leave this for the Blalau region — Camp at Sanghar — Camp in the 
forest — Phosphorescent display — Camp again in forest — Reach Bumi- 
padang — Pass on to Batu-brah — Description of the village — Move on 
to Kenali — Description of the village — Proceed to Hoodjoong — De- 
scription of the village — Its tobacco industry — Its rice-fields — Plant- 
ing and reaping — Superstitions — Goitre — Fauna and flora of the 
Besagi volcano— Birds and insects of the neighbourhood .. .. 161 

CHAPTER IV. 

SOJOURN IN THE PALEMBANG RESIDENCY (continued). 

Leave Hoodjong — Denudation — Great arums — Sukau — Chiefs of the 
Ranau region — Tandjon-djati on the Ranau Lake — The high tempera- 
ture of the water — Birds, fishes, interesting insects — Banding Agong 
— To Muara Dua — Through Kisam — Geological notes — Kisam 
villages — Coat of arms — Writing, dress, religion of Kisam people .. 174 

CHAPTER V. 

SOJOURN IN THE PALEMBANG RESIDENCY (continued'). 

From Gunung Megang — Luntar — A surprise — River Ogan — Curious 
hills — Ornamental carving — A village fair — A cock-fight — Into the 
Inim Valley — Muara Inim — Lahat — Passumah Lands — Ceremonial 
formulas — The people — Marriage ceremonies — Illegitimate births — 
Religion — Death superstitions and rites — Sculptured stones — Inter- 
esting visit from Bencoolen men 183 

CHAPTER VI. 

SOJOURN IN THE PALEMBANG RESIDENCY (continued). 

Passumah Lands (contd.) — The Volcano of the Dempo — Its flora and 
fauna — The crater — Spectre of the Brocken — The view from the 
summit — Leave for the Kaba Volcano — Gunung Meraksa — River 
journey on a raft — Lampar — Find again the spider Ornithoscatoides 
decipiens — Batupantjeh — A marriage scene — Games of the boys — 
Houses — Tebbing-Tinggi— Tandjong-ning— Great trees — My party 
attacked by a tiger — Its wilincss— Its capture — Graveyard .. .. 206 



:.\7X 



CHAPTER VII. 
>•. thk PAUMBAKG BESIDENCT {continued). 

PAGE 

mg Ulak-Tandjong— Kepala Tjurup— Hot 

B . Earthquake— Botanical features —Curious 

■ : istoma— A pilgrimage— The crater of 

. The nomadic Kubus— Rupit river scenery— Gold- 

i-rupit -The Dorian-— Snrulangun — Thieves and 

ilay dignity— Leave for Muara Mengkulem .. 225 

CHAPTER VIII. 
□n tiik i-Ai.KMr.AXG residency (continued). 

Kulein — Refused entrance into the Djambi Sultanate — Napal 

Litjin— Peak of Karang-nata — Geological formation— Botanical 

Birds Hemiptcron milked by ants — Rakit life — Bigin- 

— Wat* r roads An escape from drowning — Fau — River squall 

approach to Palembang — River life and its massive joy — The 

ru of Palembang — Return to Batavia .. .. .. .. 250 

aa to Pabt III .. .. 261 



PAET IV. 
IN TEE MOLUCCAS AND IN TIMOB-LAUT. 



CHAPTER I. 

raOM JAVA TO AMBOIXA. 



i Buitentore, Java-Leave for Amboina accompanied by my 
I -Call at Samarang and Sourabaya in Java— 
i U ebes-Bima in Sunibawa-Larantuka in Flores- 
• Ddly ID Timor-Banda, the island of nutmeg gardens 



CHAPTER II. 
AHBonrA. 



Att V Wr. Resident Biedel—Dekv ViAi.f • * 



283 



288 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 

FROM AMBOINA TO TIMOR-LAUT. 



PAGE 



Leave for Timor-laut — Saparua — Curious village and atoll of Ges^ir — 
New Guinea — Aru — Ke — Timor-laut — First impressions — New birds 
and butterflies — State of siege — -Negotiate for a house — Language — 
Our barter goods .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 298 

CBAPTER IV. 

SOJOURN IN TIMOR-LAUT. 

The natives — Hair and coiffures — Vanity — Stature and living characte- 
ristics — Cranial characters — Clothing — Tjikalele dance — Arms — 
Marriage — Artistic skill — Individual and moral character — Treat- 
ment of their children — Games — Fine figures — Graves — Good butter- 
fly resorts .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ,. 307 

CHAPTER V. 
sojourn in timor-laut (continued). 

Religion and superstitions — Visit to Waitidal — Barter for a skull — Send 
my hunters to the northern islands of the group — Climate of Timor- 
laut — A mauvais quart d'heure — Designation of the group — Geo- 
graphical and geological features .. .. .. .. .. 325 

CHAPTER VI. 
sojourn ix timor-laut (continued). 

Natural History — Flora — Disaster to Herbarium — Fauna — Mimicking 
birds — Insects — Fever and failure of supplies — Anxious waiting for 
steamer — Arrival of SS. Amboina — Leave Timor-laut for Amboina 334 

Appendix to Part IV. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 310 



PAET V. 
IN THE ISLAND OF BUBU. 



CHAPTER I. 

FROM KAJELI TO THE LAKE. 

From Amboina to Buru — Kajeli — Trade of Kajeli — Birds — River Apu — 
Wai Blbi village — Village of Wai Gelan — The Matakau — Forced 
encampments — Wai Klaba — A Pomalied mountain — Wasilale— 
Hospitable reception — Houses — Musical performance — Pomali signs 
— Arrive at Laha .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 391 



CONTENTS. 



OBAPTEB II. 

AT LAKE WOKOLO. 

l'AGE 

i Uk^-Tho Deonle tl..-r. — Cannents -Cultivation— Arms and 

,iti ;; „s about the lake 
tion and of the absence of fish in it-New 
J ReturntoKajeU-ThencetoAmboma 
I Sn the Moluccas-A kind farewell-Leave for ^ 




i.i\ ro Pabt V 



PAET VI. 
IN TIMOR. 

CHAITER I. 

SOJOURN AT FATUXABA. 



409 



Arrival at Dilly— Dreadful effects of fever — Search for a site for a house 

—The lown of Dilly an ethnographical studio — Fatunaba — Our 

residence The enchanting view thence — Interesting birds and plants 

Difficulty with servants — Preparations for departure into the in- 

r— Dialects 415 



CHAPTER II. 

OS THE ROAD TO L1BICUCU, 

Start for the interior — Vegetation on the way — Roads — Camp on Erlura 

— ML Tehula — Kelehoko and its flora — Pass a night under the eaves 

native dwelling — Huts in trees — Bed of the River Komai — Pass 

a night on Ligidoik mountain— Character of country — Valley of the 

matang Kaintank — Singular scene — Unburied relatives — Burial 

ive-sticks— Bites attending a king's death — Swangies — 

l our way Flora on Tursfeain mountain — Rajah of Turskain's — 

B ■ inical excursions The rites of the sacred Lull and the choosing 

of warriors — The Rajah .. .. .. .. .. .. 427 



r II AFTER III. 

IN TIIK KINGDOM OF BIBICUCU. 

for Bibicucu- Bridles— A trio of Braves— War and its attendant 

mi Diet Rahomali— Lnli ground— Bibicucu— Harvest fields — 

Cull lake the law into my own hands— Connubial rela- 

' Waterfal Birds— Herbarinm— Disquieting news— Mount 

Move forward to Saluki— Native market— Description of 



CONTENTS. 



natives seen there — Ornaments — Dyes — An enraged Timorese — 
Red-haired race — Timorese a mixed race — Up the Makulala 
River — Gold — Ceremonies of gold-gathering — Arrive at the Rajah 
of Seluki's .. .. .. .. .. .. ,. mm 449 

CBAPTER IV. 

SOJOURN IN KAILAKUK AND SAMORO. 

I proceed to Fatuboi — River Motaai — Crystalline rocks — A weird village 
— Rare additions to my herbarium — Butterflies — Move on to the 
Rajah of Samoro's — Vegetation by the way — Geological notes — 
Penalties of theft — Samoro — Visit Sobale Peak — Botanising under 
difficulties — Large Herbarium — Return to Samoro and leave for 
Manuleo .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 468 

CHAPTER V. 

RETURN TO EUROPE. 

Bad news from Hilly — Start thither — Camp in the open — Bees — Laclo 
river — Rajah's of Laicor — The Queen of Laclo — A hot ride — Geologi- 
cal note — -Matu — Metinaru — Salt marshes — A long night-ride — 

Return to Hilly Palace — Extract from A 's journal — Return to 

Fatunaba — Fevers — Hecide to return to Europe — Surprised by the 
arrival of steamer — Regretful departure from Fatunaba — Revisit 
Banda and Amboina — Menado — A lucky accident — Batavia — 
Krakatoa — Home .. .. .. .. .. ,. .. 478 

Appendix to Part VI. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 489 

Index .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 525 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



facing 



Mrs. Forbes' Honey-eater (with permission, from Gould's 
of New Guinea') ...... 

Ficus religiosa, in the Botanical Gardens, Buitexzorg 

Two forms of the Nest of the Weaver-Bird 

Abandoned Nest-foundation ..... 

A Bird's-excreta-mimicking Spider .... 

Nest of the Zethus Cyanopterus .... 

Transverse section of the stem of Myrmecodia tuberosa 

Young plant of Myrmecodia tuberosa 

Young Myrmecodia and section of a somewhat older one 

Phajus Blumei, Figs. 1 to 8 

Spathoglottis plicata, Figs. 9 to 15 . 

Arundina speciosa, Figs. 1G to 22 

Eria sp., near to E. javensis, Figs. 23, 24 

Chrysoglossum sp., Figs. 25 to 26a 

Goodyera procera, Figs. 27, 28 . 

Egg-shaped Stone from the Karang's Grove 

Earthenware Pots from „ „ 

Our Night-crossing of the River Tjitarum 

Head of Kerivoula javana 

Village of Kotta-djawa ...... facing 

Lampong Characters : an Illustrated Page from a Native-written 
Romance facing 

Head of Buceros and section ....... 

Village of Kenali ....... facing 

View near the Village of Hoodjoong, looking towards Mount 
Besagi facing 

Coat of Arms in the Village of Padjae-Bulan .... 

Tata Bubur-talam .......•• 

Tata Simbar .......••• 

Looking down the Ogan Valley from the Riang Peak facing 

Tata Ramo-ramo .......•• 

Semindo Carving— Otar Gamoolung— on a House in Pengan- 

DONAN ......•••• 

o 



PACK 

' Birds 

Frontispiece 

facing 10 

57 

58 

64 

73 

79 

. 80 

. 81 

86, 87, 88 

89,90 

91, 92, 93 

. 93 

94,95 

. 96 

. 98 

99, 100 

facing 106 



118 
131 

142 
155 
168 

170 

180 
186 

186 
186 
187 

187 



Will 



LIST OF TLLU8TBATI0NS. 



Silveb, wwm the OBumunn 

• :n: KM NQ B (TSOFTHE BAMBOO . 

..,. Pasbumah Lands 

DISINTERRED nv Tin: A.UTHOB AT TaNGBBWAXGI 
,,;w miiiii: HEAD OF ONE OF THE FIGURES . 

UANBIA, OF THE FAMILY OF THE KaFFLESIACEJS 

facing 
HOUSE IX THE VILLAGE OF BaTU-PANTJEH ... „ 

Ml Col i i> K>B KILLED ttl A TlQEB .... „ 

•TRAP ,..•••■ » 

y\\ Hi r m the Bot Spbikgs, foot of the Eaba Volcano „ 

B ( 1.1 IQBAMM Ml. I 01 MELA6T0MA (WITH THE KIND PERMISSION 

IE PaoPBiETOBa of Nature) ...-•• 

AND WOMAN, BKETCHED IN THE VILLAGE OF KoTTA RADJA 

SuRULANGUN 
» » " 

Flow bbof Curcuma zebumbet, showing its mode of fertilisation 
V U I inium Fobbesu .... 

BOLOB < MlXAMESTA 1 [OH 

Ni rMEG-GATHEBEB's Collecting-bod 

ORES OF THE NATIVES OF TlMOR-LAUT 
Instrument FOB CBIMPIKG THE Haib 
■ RENTED BeLT-BDCKLE . 

Earbing ...... 

Carted Comb, ornamented with inlaid Bone 
Ornamented Chalk-holder 
Hoi be in Timor-laut 

„ with Roof removed to show the I 
Suspensory Contrivance make of Palm-leaf 
Gbave of a Native Chief ..... 

Si bpeksoby Contrivances 
Duadilah ........ 

Maimik's Ground-thrush (GeocicUa machiki, Forbes) . facing 
v frontalis bt lateralis of the Male Brachycephalic 
Skull, No. 4 (with the permission of the Council of the 
Anthropological Institute) ..... 

" i: fbontalu bt lateralis of the female i'olichm ephalic 

Skull, Ni>. i (with the permission of the Council of the 

hropological institute) ...... 

Dffbi B ci of Bill of Heteranax MUNDUS (WITH THE PERMISSION 

OF I BE COI N< II. OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY) .... 

Cpfbb Surface of Bill of Piezorhynchus castus (with the PER- 
MISSION OF THE I I rHE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY) 

WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE 

Zoological So< n:i y) .... 
BCatakai ..... 

The Hut-Clcsteb, Wabilale, on the slope of the Gunung Dupa 

facing 



195 
200 
201 
202 

206 
218 
223 
224 



229 

234 

245 

247 

278 

285 

287 

308 

309 

312 

313 

316 

317 

318 

31 & 

320 

323 

324 

327 

337 



344 

345 

359 

359 

382 
395 

398 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Native of Wakolo Village, Lake Wakoi.o 

View of the Lake of Wakolo 

Signalling Pipe ...... 

Tree-huts with Dead Bodies suspended below 
The Stronghold of the Dato of Sauo . 
Grave-stick in the Homestead of Sauo 
Looking towards Cape Luca, from Bibiqucu 
House-cluster in the Kingdom of Bibicucu . 
View in the Serarata Valley, Bibicucu 
Ornamented Comb ..... 

Ornamentation on small Bameoo 
Natives of Bibicucu, Figs. 1 to 4 
Kero ....... 



facing 402 

405 

. 429 

. 434 

facing 434 

. 437 

facing 452 

454 

459 

. 462 

. 463 

. 465, 466 

. 472 



LIST OF MAPS. 



PAGE 

Map of Eastern Archipelago, to snow Author's Route facing 1 
Map of Keeling Islands ...... i, 35 

Map of South Sumatra ,, 125 

Map of Teximber Islands or Timor-lact . . . . „ 298 

Sketch Map of Geographical Relations of the Tenimber Gkoup 
rra the kind permission of the Council of the Anthro- 
pological Institute) ....... . 3G8 

Kbakatao before anh after the Eruption: of August 1883 (from 
the • Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society,' with 

kind I-KUMIS-SIUX") 487 



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PART I. 



IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 



B.OPORBES' vm^i.iST* PANDERINGS IN THE EASTER* ARCHIPELAGO. 






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Harper It firothRri NcviYork 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

IN THE 

EASTERN AECHIPELAGO. 

CHAPTER I. 

IN BATAVIA AND BUITENZORG. 

Arrival in Batavia — First impressions — Buitenzorg and its Botanical 
Gardens. 

On the 8th October, 1878, I embarked at Southampton on 
board the Royal Dutch Mail steamer Celebes, for Batavia, 
on a long-dreamt of visit to the tropical regions of the globe. 
There is little of interest or novelty to record nowadays of a 
voyage to the East. The most stay-at-home is familiar with 
this ocean highway. 

The home-come traveller, however, will be pleased to be 
reminded of that pleasant picture nestling between the 
Burlings and the Arabida hills — the stupendous and useless 
convent of Mafra, the sharp turrets and bristling peaks of 
Cintra, and the flashing towers and white buildings of Lisbon, 
rising from the banks of the river. Notwithstanding all I 
had read of Wallace and of Bates, I was going out full of 
extravagant ideas of tropical blossoms; and had little idea, 
as I rounded the cape of Gibraltar, leaving to the north of 
me purple hills of heather, scarlet fields of poppies, and rich 
parterres starred with cistus and orchids, with anemones 
and geraniums, and sweet with aromatic shrubs and herbs, 
that I would encounter nothing half so rich or bright amid 
all the profusion of the " summer of the world." 

It will please him to have recalled the Straits of Messina, 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



bathed in sunlight, its little villages with their olive groves 
and vineyards slumbering at the mouth of chasm-like gorges, 
winding away up amongst the mountains which ruggedly 
overshadow them. 

In crossing the Mediterranean, Ave gave a lift to tired wag- 
tails and swallows, to a goat-sucker and a fly-catcher, and 
carried them into Port Said. The squalor of that town, the 
barrenness of the canal shores and the arid bareness of xlden 
were a splendid offset to the verdure just ahead of us. In the 
Indian Ocean our friendly yard-arms gave a rest to several 
bee-eaters (Meroj)s philijppinus), to a chat and to little flocks of 
swallows before we sighted the Maldive and Laccadive coral 
Archipelagoes. Far ahead on the horizon their islets looked 
like a group of bouquets set in marble-rimmed vases; but as 
we approached, the vase rims changed into the surf of the sea 
breaking on the reef to feed its builders, and the bouquets 
into clumps of cocoa-palms, iron-wood, and other trees which 
the currents of the sea have washed together, and the passing 
winds and wandering birds have carried thither to deck these 
lone homes of the ocean fowl, which came fighting; in our 
wake for the scraps that fell from our floating table. 

Holding on east by southward for a few days more, a hazy 
streak appeared on our horizon, and my eyes rested on the 
first of the Malayan islands — on the distant peaks of Sumatra. 
We anchored at Padang for a day, and, in sailing southward 
along its coast, I could not admire sufficiently the magnificence 
of that island — its great mountain chain running parallel 
to the coast, and rising into smoking peaks, clad with forest to 
the very crater rims, — which later I found to be all that I had 
pictured it from the sea, and more. 

On the morning of the second day, we entered the Sunda 
Straits, that narrow water-pass by the opening of which between 
Java and Sumatra, Nature has laid under grateful tribute all 
Cape-coming and -going mariners through the Java Sea to and 
from the Archipelago or Chinese ports. Dotted about in this 
narrow channel, were low picturesque islands and solitary cones 
of burnt-out craters, towering sheer up to a height of from two 
to three thousand feet, all clothed in vegetation. Prominent 
among the latter stood out the sharp cone of Krakatoa, Avhose 
name will scarcely be forgotten by our generation at least, and 



IN THE COCOS-EEELING ISLANDS. 5 

will live longer in the sorrowful remembrance of the inhabitants 
of the shores of the strait. The appalling catastrophe of 
August the 27th, 1883, would, however, sink into insignifi- 
cance, if compared with that which, while this was still an 
undiscovered sea, must have withdrawn the foundations of the 
land over which the strait now flows. 

On our right the Java coast lay in a series of beautiful 
amphitheatre slopes, laid out in coffee-gardens and rice- 
terraces ; on our left were the more distant Sumatra shores cut 
into large and beautiful bays between long promontories, on the 
easternmost of which stood out the high dome of Raja-basa. 
Rounding St. Nicholas Point, we sailed eastward among the 
tree-capped Thousand Islands. The coast of Java, on our 
right, presented a singular appearance, for, for miles into the 
interior it seemed elevated above the level of the sea scarcely 
more than the height of the trees that covered it. Nothing 
could be seen save the sea fringe of vegetation in front of a 
green plain, behind which rose the hills of Bantam and the 
Blue Mountains, as the old mariners called the peaks of 
Buitenzorg. 

Late in the afternoon of the 17th of November, the Celebes 
dropped her anchor in Batavia Roads, one of the greatest centres 
of commerce in all these seas, amid a fleet flying the flags 
of all nations. I had reached my destination ; but, scan the 
shore as I might, I tailed to detect anything like a town or even 
a village, only a low shore with a fringe of trees whose roots 
the surf was lazily lapping. As we approached the land in 
the steam tender, into which we were at length transferred, 
the shore opened out, and disclosed the mouth of a canal, 
leading to the town a long mile inland. A traveller, dropped 
down here by chance, might, from these canals, make a very 
good guess at the nationality of the dominant power in the 
island, for these placid water-roads are as dear to the heart of 
the Hollander as heather-hills to a Highlander. 

On stepping off the mail, I said good-bye to western life 
and ways, and entered on others new and strange to me, 
exciting my curiosity, full of fascination, even bewildering, 
recalling the confused sensations of my first boyish visit to 
the capital. Even in the canal, the first aspects of life were 
intensely interesting. Here and there a fishing-boat passed 



6 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

us, novel in cut and rig, decked with flowers at the prow, 
rowed out to sea by some ten or twelve dusky fishers, singing 
an intermittent song, timed to the rattle of their heavy oars 
in the rowlocks; a little further on, Ave glided past a fleet of 
gaily painted craft, Malay, Chinese, and Arab, lying at anchor 
under the canal wall, their occupants, in bright-coloured cali- 
coes, lounging in" unwonted attitudes about their decks. 

Before we had moored by the side of the Custom-house, it 
was quite dark, so that our landing was effected under some 
difficulty, amid the usual and necessary din and confusion, 
and amid a very Babel of foreign tongues, of which not a 
syllable was intelligible to me, save here and there a 
Portuguese word still recognisable, even after the changes of 
many centuries — veritable fossils bedded in the language of a 
race, where now no recollection or knowledge of the peoples 
who left them exists. 

By dint of the universal language of signs, I got myself and 
baggage at last transferred to a carriage, drawn by two small 
splendidly running ponies, of a famous breed from the island 
of Sumbawa. After a drive of between two and three miles, 
through what seemed an endless row of Chinese bazaars 
and houses, remarkable mostly, as seen in the broken lamp- 
light, for their squalor and stench, before which their occu- 
pants at smoking and chatting, I at length emerged into 
a more genial atmosphere, and into canal and tree-margined 
streets, full of fine residences and hotels, very conspicuous by 
the blaze of light that lit up their pillared and marbled fronts. 

Taking up my quarters at the Hotel der Nederlanden, I had 
to be content with an uncurtained shake-down on the floor of 
the room of one of my fellow passengers, as every bed in the 
hotel was occupied. Next morning, to every one's surprise, 
I arose without a single mosquito bite, evidently mosquito- 
proof. To my unspeakable comfort and advantage, I re- 
mained absolutely so during my whole sojourn in the East, 
and was thus relieved of the necessity of burdening myself 
with furniture against these, or any other insect pests whatever. 

When the chaotic confusion of my first impressions of 
Batavia had become reduced to order, I found that it consisted 
of an old and a new town. The old town lies near the strand ; 
is close, dusty, and stifling hot, standing scarcely anything 



IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 



above the sea-level. It contains the Stadthouse, the offices of 
the Government, with the various consulates and banks, all 
convenient to the wharf and the Custom-house, situated along 
the banks of canals, which intersect the town in every 
direction. Bound this European nucleus cluster the native 
village, the Arab and the Chinese " camps." 

Of Chinamen, Batavia contains many thousands of inhabi- 
tants, and, without this element, she might almost close her 
warehouses, and send the fleet that studs her roads to ride in 
other harbours ; for every mercantile house is directly dependent 
on their trade. They are almost the sole purchasers of all the 
wares they have to dispose of. They rarely purchase except on 
credit, and a very sharp eye indeed has to be kept on them 
while their names are on the firm's books, for they are invete- 
rate, but clever scoundrels, ever on the outlook for an oppor- 
tunity to defraud. In every branch of trade, the Chinaman is 
absolutely indispensable, and, despite his entire lack of moral 
attributes, his scoundrelism and dangerous revolutionary ten- 
dencies, he must be commended for his sheer hard work, his 
indomitable energy and perseverance in them all. There is 
not a species of trade in the town, except, perhaps, that of 
bookseller and chemist, in which he does not engage. Many 
of them possess large and elegantly fitted up tokos or shops, 
filled with the best European, Chinese, and Japanese stores; 
their workmanship is generally quite equal to European, and 
in every case they can far undersell their Western rivals. 

The Arab, who like the Chinaman is prevented because of 
his intriguing disposition from going into the interior of the 
island, does, in a quiet and less obtrusive way, a little shop- 
keeping and money-lending, but is oftener owner of some sort 
of coasting craft, with which he trades from port to port, or 
to the outlying islands. 

The natives of the town — that is, coast Malays and Sun- 
danese — perform only the most menial work ; they are vehicle 
drivers, the more intelligent are house servants, small traders, 
and assistants to the Chinese, but the bulk are coolies. They 
have no perseverance, and not much intelligence; and are 
very lazy, moderately dishonest, and inveterate gamblers, but 
otherwise innocuous. 

This was the Batavia — fatal-climated Batavia — of past 



., NATURALIST'S WANDEBINGS 



[„ this low-lying, close and stinking neighbourhood, 
de ; oid ,,,• wholesome water, scorched in the daytime, and 
chiUed by the cold sea fogs in the night, did the Eastern 
merc han1 of half-a-century ago reside, as well as trade Out 
f this however, if he survived the incessant waves of lever, 
cholera, Bmall-pox, and typhoid, he returned home in a few 
the rich partner of some large house, or the owner of a 

great fortune. . 

All this is changed now. Morning and evening, the train 
whirls in a few minutes the whole European population— 
which tries, in vain, to amass fortunes like those of past times 
—to and from the open salubrious suburbs, the new town, of 
fine be-gardened residences, each standing in a grove of trees 
flanking large parks, the greatest of which, the King's Plain, 
I,,,, each of its sides nearly a mile in length. Here the 
Governor-General has his official Palace — his unofficial resi- 
dence being on the hills at Buitenzorg, about thirty miles to 
a nth of Batavia ; and here are built the barracks, the clubs, 
the hotels, and the best shops, dotted along roads shaded by 
leafy Hibiscus shrubs, or by the Poinciana regia, an imported 
Madagascar tree, which should be seen in the end of the year, 
when its broad spreading top is one mass of orange-red 
blossoms, whose falling petals redden the path, as if from 
the lurid glare of a fiery canopy above. To these pleasant 
avenues, in the cool of the evening, just after sunset, and 
before the dinner-hour, all classes, either driving or on foot 
resorl for exercise and friendly intercourse. 

In front of the barracks, another fine park, the Waterloo 
Plain, is ornamented by a tall column, surmounted by a 
rampant lion, with an inscription to commemorate the prowess 
of the Netherlander in winning the battle of Waterloo. A 
remark, perhaps not quite fair, of a Ceylon friend on view- 
in- the pillar and its long inscription: "The lion at the top 
is nol more conspicuous than the lyin at the bottom!" 

Having been furnished, through the kind influence of 
Professor Suringar, of Leyden, with an autograph letter of 
recommendation from His Excellency the then Minister for 
the Colonies, to the Governor-General of the Netherlands' 
[ndies, 1 proceeded, rery shortly after my arrival, to Biriten- 
the purpose of presenting it. From His Excellency 



IN THE COCOS-EEELING ISLANDS. 9 



I received most favourable letters of commendation to all in 
authority under bis jurisdiction, and parted with tbe expres- 
sion of bis warm interest and best wishes. 

Buitenzorg is one of the chief holiday and health resorts of 
sick Batavians, and possesses not only a magnificent climate, 
but scenery of great beauty and picturesqueness. It is 
overlooked by two large and at present harmless volcanic 
mountains, the Salak with its disrupted cone, into whose verv 
heart one looks by the terrible cleft in its side, and the double- 
peaked Pangerango and Gede, from whose crater is ever 
lazily curling up white vapoury smoke from the simmering 
water which at present fills the summit of its pipe. Besides 
the fine views to be had in its neighbourhood, Buitenzorg is 
chiefly remarkable for its botanic garden, perhaps the finest 
in the world, which surrounds the Governor's palace, and in 
which many weeks might be profitably and delightfully spent 
by the botanist. 

To Mr. Teysmann, who died but recently, after some sixty 
years of unbroken service in it, the garden is largely in- 
debted for the actual ingathering of the bulk of its treasures. 
For fifty years he was engaged in collecting through the 
islands of the Archipelago ; and some of the rarest and finest 
specimens in it, brought as seeds by him, he had the satisfaction 
of seeing develop into the grandest of its trees. 

A long wide avenue of Kanarie (Canarium commune) trees 
traverses the centre of the garden, which interlacing high 
overhead in a superb leafy canopy, affords at all hours of the 
day a delightful promenade. Near the principal entrance a 
tall Amherstia nobilis forms in the rainy season, when it is 
ablaze with immense scarlet flower-trosses and plumes of young 
leaves of the richest brown, a remarkable object of beauty. On 
the right the garden descends to its boundary stream through 
arboreta of Buteas, Cassias, Calliandras, Tamarinds, and Poin- 
cianas, to groves of Bromeleads and tall Cactaceee, Pandans, 
Nipas, Cycads and climbing Screw-pines ; to plots of Ama- 
ryllidese, Iris and water-loving plants ; and beneath the richest 
palmetum in the world, its glory perhaps the Cyrtostachjs 
renda, whose long bright scarlet leaf sheaths and flower- 
spathes, and its red fruit and deep yellow inflorescence hanging 
side by side, at once arrest the eye. 



10 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

Bordering the stream is quite a little forest of oaks, laurels 
and figs, many of them yet unknown to science, merging in a 
long, dark, tunnel-like corridor of banyan trees. In a dense 
clump affixed to tall tree ferns and Cambodias, whose white, 
heavy-odoured flowers entirely carpeted the ground, were 
thousands of orchids from all countries, most of them blossom- 
ing as profusely as in their native habitat, except a few of 
the higher and cooler-living New World species,, such as the 
Cattleyas, which gradually dwindle away and die out in a few 
years. More strangely, the native Phaloenopses (amabilis and 
grandiflora) refuse to thrive in the gardens, 750 feet above 
the sea, while in Batavia few plants flower so luxuriantly as 
they do. 

On the left of the central walk there are two remarkable 
avenues ; the one of stately Brazilian palms, the Oreodoxa 
oleracea, whose globular base and smooth ringed stems, were as 
straight and symmetrical as if turned in a lathe, and in their 
whiteness contrasted markedly with the deep green of the leaf 
sheaths and crown of foliage ; the other of bamboos, remarkable 
for the number and luxuriance of its species. The curious root- 
growing Rafflesias, the Amorphojrfiallus titanum, a giant arum, 
and the Teysmannia altifrons, a rare broad-leafed palm, from 
Sumatra, and others as rare, which would require too long a list 
to enumerate, were to be studied here. My daily morning 
round of the garden invariably terminated in a seat under an 
umbrageous india-rubber tree, in front of which a fountain 
played into a circular pond dotted with blue and white flowers 
of water-lilies and Victoria regias. In the sparkling light of 
the early sun it was the most charming of spots for a rest. 



IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. \\ 



CHAPTER II. 

SOJOURN IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 

Start for the Cocos-Keeling Mauds — In the Straits of Sunda — An unex- 
pected pilot— Arrival — History of the colony there — Terrible cyclones — 
Home life of the colonists now — The reef and its builders — Fishes in the 
lagoon — Crabs and their operations— Plant life — Insect life — Mammals 
—Birds. 

The end of the year 1878 was noted for its very heavy rains, 
which in the month of December were at their worst. Trans- 
port and travel were not only difficult, but in many districts 
impossible. Just as I was getting rather puzzled as to how 
to get away anywhere out of Batavia, I learned that a small 
sailing craft, on which I was offered a passage, was on the point 
of leaving for the Cocos-Keeling Islands. With this outlying 
spot, made famous by Mr. Darwin's visit in 1836, I was 
familar from his ' Coral Reefs.' It did not, therefore, take me 
long to decide to accept an offer which was as gratifying as it 
was unexpected. 

After a wearisome fight of fourteen days with the Monsoon 
wind at the entrance of the Sunda Straits, we succeeded in 
reaching the little village of Anjer, where we stopped a day to 
replenish our failing stores of provisions, and to eat our New 
Tear's feast in the picturesque inn there, whose verandah 
commanded a delightful view of the island-studded strait and 
of the rugged mountains of Sumatra on the other side. The 
wind, which had opposed us so persistently, had on the day we 
again set sail subsided altogether, and it was with the greatest 
difficulty that we could haul clear off the land. Day after day 
brought us a monotonous calm. 

It was something, however, that at this season the forest 
along the slowly passing shores and isles was in the full burst 
of spring, when it wears in the morning light its most charming 
aspect, of surpassing beauty to my novitiate eyes; the piping 



12 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



mid-day alone was ungrateful, almost unbearable, exposed to 
the sun. as we were, without awning or protection ; the evening 
sunseta were Bcenea to be remembered for a lifetime. The tall- 
cones of Sibissie and Krakatda rose dark purple out of an un- 
ruffled golden sea, which stretched away to the south-west, where 
the sun wenl down ; over the horizon grey fleecy clouds lay in 
banks and streaks, abovethem pale blue lanes of sky, alternating 
with orange hands, which higher up gave place to an expanse 
of red stretching round the whole heavens. Gradually as the 
sun retreated deeper and deeper, the sky became a marvellous 
golden curtain, in front of which the grey clouds coiled them- 
selves into weird forms before dissolving into sj)ace, taking 
with them our last hope that they might contain a breeze, and 
leaving us at rest on the placid water, over which shoals of 
water-bugs (of the genus Halobates probably) glided, covering 
its surface with circles like gentle rain-drop rings ; there was 
not a sound to break the silence save the plunge of a porpoise 
or the fluck of the fishes in quest of their evening meal. 
Perhaps these rich after-glows were due to the Kaba eruption 
then going on in Mid-Sumatra. 

One day, we passed a large log in the sea floating in the 
current, to which numerous little crabs were clinging, on their 
way. perhaps, to colonise some new and distant shore. 

On the afternoon of the sixteenth day of weary beating from 
Anjer, a pure white tern suddenly appeared, and, circling about 
the vessel, produced quite a flutter of excitement. It was the 
lovely Gygia Candida, one of the Keeling Island birds, which 
<.ur native boatswain declared never went far from home, and 
that we must, therefore, be near our destination. 

Several of the sailors ran aloft, and in a few minutes 
descried to the northward the crowns of the higher cocoa- 
nut palms on the southern islands. We straightway changed 
our course; for our skipper had evidently miscalculated our 
noon position, and. but for this timely pilot, would have sailed 
past in the night. At sundown the islands appeared from the 
deck as a dark uneven line, rising little above the horizon ; at 
ten oclock we cautiously sailed in to the anchorage in the 
agoon lighted through by the phosphorescence from' shoals of 
large fishes, which darted like rockets from below our keel. 

rhe scene that met my eyes next morning was a curious 



IN THE COCOS-EEELING ISLANDS. 13 



one : a calm lake-like sea enclosed by a palisade of palm trees 
on a narrow riband of land. My first feelings were those of 
surprise at the size of the atoll ; for it was very much smaller 
than the mental picture I had formed of it from studying 
the Admiralty chart, and then of wonder that such a speck 
could hold its own against the relentless ocean, which seemed 
as if it might wash it away in any angry moment. 

To form by personal observation more clear ideas of coral 
formation, and chiefly to note how the struggle between the 
reef-makers and the waves had been going during the past 
forty-three years, and perhaps the pride of saying I had 
lived on a reef, being the objects of my coming, no amount 
of dissimilarity from conceived ideas could disappoint me, or 
cause me to regret my visit ; but I could not help thinking 
that it was a woe-begone spot to choose for a perpetual home, 
and a limited field to expend one's energies on. 

Mr. G. C. Koss, the proprietor, shortly came on board, and 
with the most hearty greeting welcomed me ; he rowed me 
ashore, and, without power of gainsay, installed me as guest in 
his comfortable home, for I was the first European who, not 
by compulsion of weather or other disaster, but really of set 
purpose, had during that period visited his island. We sat 
far into the night talking together, and I scarcely know which 
of us seemed most eager to learn. The rapid question and 
reply shot between us incessantly to the early hours, and as 
we sat and talked, it was with an eerie feeling that I felt the 
very foundations of the land thrill under my feet at every dull 
boom of the surf on the outward barrier — I conveying to my 
host's household all that was strangest and most interesting 
from the busy centres of civilisation, in politics (a far cry to 
them), in discovery and in invention, all that was newest from 
the outer and, to them, far-off world ; he relating to me the 
thrilling domestic annals of his island domain. 

Half a century had elapsed since his grandfather, descended 
of an old Scottish family wrecked in the troublous times of 
1745, having brought an adventurous seafaring life to a close 
in command of one of the vessels stationed in the Java Sea, 
for the protection of British interests during our occupation 
of that island, had landed in December, 1825, and virtually 
taken possession of the group. His intention was to make 
3 



14 A NATUBALIST'S WANDERINGS 



the Bpot a call port for the repair and provisioning of 
vessels voyaging between home and China, Australia, and 
[ndia. Without then taking up residence, he proceeded to 
England, but returned in 1827 with his wife and family of six 
children, ace >mpanied by twelve Englishmen, one Javanese, 
and one Portuguese. On landing he was surprised to find 
another Englishman, Mr. Alexander Hare, in possession of a 
third part of the group. This gentleman had held a govern- 
ment post in South Borneo during the English supremacy in 
the Sunda Islands; hut having tried to assume the state of 
an independent ruler, which on the reinstalment of Dutch 
authority, he found himself unable to hold, he retired here 
with a large harem of various nationalities and numerous 
slaves, whom he treated with great harshness. 

Mr. Ross, having brought out his English apprentices on an 
understanding that, as the whole atoll was his own, there 
would be, in the development of its resources, sufficient 
outlet for their energies, was much discouraged by the turn 
affairs had assumed. Hare exhibited a very unfriendly spirit 
towards the new-comers, so that, on Mr. Ross offering his 
people a release from their agreement, all, except three (a 
woman and two men), took the first opportunity of leaving in 
one of H.M. gunboats which touched at the islands. Ross 
managed, however, to increase his party by seven or eight 
persons from Java, and later on by additional Europeans, some 
of them his own relatives. With a large number of Sundanese 
coolies, hired in Batavia, hs opened a trade in cocoanuts with 
the Mauritius, with Madras, and with Bencoolen and various 
other ports of the Archipelago. 

Possessed of a considerable fortune, Hare lived for some time 
a lethargic life in mock regal style, in the midst of the con- 
stant discord and jealousies of his retinue, and in hostility to 
Lis neighbour. For the protection of what he considered an im- 
portantly situated island, and of his own rights, Ross solicited 
the authorities in the Mauritius to take the group under their 
responsibility they did not see it advisable to 
assume. Hare, on the other hand, covertly instigated the 
Dutch Government to claim possession, a suggestion which 
the Batavian officials entertained only so far as to send a 
gunboat to examine and report on the condition of the 



IN TEE COCOS-EEELING ISLANDS. 15 



islands. Direct application was then made by Eoss to King 
William to proclaim the atoll English territory, but without 
success. Hare, after several years of a most worthless sort 
of existence, took his departure for Singapore, where it is said 
he shortly after died. 

Mr. Darwin's visit took place not very long after Hare's 
departure, and just after the change of the settlement from 
South-Eastern to New Selima Island and his report as to the 
comfortable and flourishing state of the young colony at that 
time is not very favourable. It was always a subject of keen 
regret to Mr. Eoss, that on Mr. Darwin's visit, in 1836, he 
was not at home. Mr. Leisk, who was in charge, showed Mr. 
Darwin over the place, and gave him a great deal of infor- 
mation, but though given in good faith, much of it was not 
quite accurate. After a few years of peaceful and undisturbed 
possession of the atoll, the whole of which Mr. Eoss then laid 
claim to, it attained to a most prosperous condition ; and 
its ships became well known throughout the Archipelago, 
Eoss himself being styled the King of the Cocos Islands. 
Two villages were erected, one for the hired coolies, and the 
other, a little way distant, for the Europeans and those who 
threw in their lot with the new colony and were to share its 
fortunes — the true Cocos colonists. This state of prosperity 
was due mainly to the efforts of his eldest son — the father 
devoting the closing years of his life chiefly to study.* Their 
trade prospered and afforded a handsome annual balance 
for many years, and altogether life seems to have been very 
pleasant save for one element, the hired population. 

The only coolies who could be got to engage to leave Java for 
a term of years, were criminals who had served their time in the 
chain-gangs of Batavia, and as they far outnumbered the Euro- 
peans and colonists, and were capable of any atrocity, they were 
a constant source of danger, and a heavy anxiety to these in 
charge. Every night a strongly armed patrol of true Cocos 
people had to mount guard from sunset to sunrise, and still 
continues t3 do so, with military regularity and rigour, the 
watches being struck, as on ship board, all through the night. 

* By a curious mistake in the Royal Society's Catalogue of Scientific 
Papers, Mr. J. C. Ross's criticism of Mr. Darwin's ' Coral Reefs' is attributed 
to Sir J. C. Ross, the Arctic explorer. 



16 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



From the amount of cocoa-nut husk, or coir, as well as from 
the combustible nature of all the buildings and of the palm 
trees themselves, incendiarism was the crime most feared at 
the hands of the lawless. Consequently it was sternly enforced 
thai every individual should report himself at the guard-house 
at a fixed hour; and that every fire should be quenched at 
Bunset. It was penal for anyone to spend the night on any 
but the Home island, without express permission from the 
captain of the guard. Every boat was numbered and had to 
be in its place an hour before sunset ; if it were not, by tock of 
drum a muster was called, the absentees noted, and a search 
instantly instituted, to bring back the defaulters or to render 
aid in case of accident. 

Unsullied as their history began, it was not long till a 
Black Calendar had to be added to their island archives. 
Criminals invariably betook themselves to the concealment of 
the forest-clad islets, where they could often elude capture 
for weeks ; but, unless they could steal a provisioned boat, 
which was almost impossible, they could get no further. 
The tale of the restless dread and suspense which held the 
whole community, when some mutineer, with the desperate 
spirit of amolc in him, was at large, and the exciting efforts to 
effecl and to elude capture, was a chapter, which demanded 
little from the narrator's art, to engage my sympathies and my 
profound interest in this community, living its chequered life 
SO far from the sympathies of the world. 

To prevent any temptation to robbery no coined money 
is allowed on the atoll. The currency is in sheep-skin notes 
signed by Mr. Ross, which are good as between member and 
member of the community. AVages are paid in these or 
in goods and food articles brought regularly from Batavia, 
while the notes are exchangeable for Dutch money in Batavia 
on presentation to Mr. Ross's agent. 

<>n the .".1st March, 1857, as a large inscribed board near 
the landing place on Home island proclaims, Captain Fre- 
mantle in 11. M.S. Juno visited the Cocos Islands, and, after 
tli' usual royal salute, declared them part of the British 
dominions, and Mr. Ross (the father of the present proprietor) 
their Governor during Her Majesty's pleasure. The whole 
was, it appears, a ludicrous mistake on the part of Captain 



IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. VJ 



Fremantle, for the island intended to be annexed was one of 
the same name somewhere in the Andaman group ! It is 
gratifying, however, to know that the islands are after all 
really British territory, for I myself carried down a copy of 
the Proclamation in the Ceylon Gazette of November 1878, by 
which the Cocos-Keeling Islands were annexed to the Govern- 
ment of Ceylon, "to prevent any foreign power stepping in 
and taking possession of them, for the purpose of settlement, 
or for a coaling station," as Russian agents, it was reported, had 
been examining the locality with sinister views. 

The islands being of extreme salubrity, the true Keelino- 
population, now mostly of mixed blood, had rapidly increased, 
and they enjoyed unbroken prosperity till J 862, when a 
cyclone in a few hours entirely wrecked their homes. The 
present proprietor, the third in succession, then a student 
of engineering in Glasgow, was hurriedly summoned to aid 
his father in the restoration of the islands, a task he was 
suddenly left alone to accomplish, when quite a young man, 
by the death of his parent. Abandoning all the more 
ambitious plans of his life, he gave himself up to the new 
position which he had been so unexpectedly called to fill, and 
with the warmest heartiness threw himself into all the interests 
of the islanders. He devised and has carried out liberal plans 
for their improvement, and for the advancement of those com- 
mitted to his charge. Marrying a Cocos-born wife, who shared 
his ideas and interests, they became the parents of the people 
rather than their masters and rulers. 

As rapidly as possible he rid himself of the chain-gang men, 
and being able, by a change in the laws at Batavia, to obtain 
coolies of the non-criminal class, he engaged only those of 
the best character. He cleared off the remaining forest and 
planted the ground with palms. Success attended his efforts. 
At length he brought into the Indian Ocean the new sounds 
of the puffing of steam mills, the whirring of lathes and saws, 
and the clang of the anvil. The general education of the 
children has bsen under a younger brother of Mr. Eoss's, 
educated in a Scottish university. Every Cocos man has had, 
besides performing his ordinary duties of gathering nuts 
and preparing oil — which, exchanged in Batavia, returns as 
gain, or the food which they cannot produce within their own 



18 a NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



bounds— to Learn to work— and their proficiency astonished me 
_in brass iron and wood. Every Cocos girl has had her term 
of apprenticeship to spend in Mrs. Ross's house m learning 
uader her direction sewing, cooking, and every house-wifely 
duty as practised in European homes. I shall not soon 
forget the deft handmaiden— female servants were employed 
to do all the household work— who attended to my room; 
she was a tall Papuan, who had been rescued from slavery, 
no* one of the true Cocos people, in whom all the grace of 
body and limb that she inherited from her race had developed, 
under tin' happy circumstances under which she had come, 
into the perfection of the human female figure. She could not 
have performed her work with more neatness and dexterity had 
she been trained at home. With all the respect of a servant, she 
mingled a kind solicitude in looking after my comfort and 
attending to my wants, which as a daughter of the island to its 
guest, she might without presumption use. A fresh rose was 
daily laid on my pillow and on the folded-down counterpane, 
while, that the water in my basin might seem fresher than its 
sparkling self, she sprinkled it with fragrant rose leaves. 

No more flourishing or contented community could have 
been found at the opening of 1876, than its 500 island-born 
inhabitants. On the 25th of January, however, the mercurial 
barometer indicated some unusual atmospheric disturbance, 
and the air felt extremely heavy and oppressive. On the 28th 
it fell to close on 28 inches, a warning which gave time for 
all boats to be hauled to a place of safety, and other prepara- 
tions for a storm to be made. On the afternoon of the same 
day, there appeared in the western sky an ominously dark 
bank of clouds, and at 4 p.m. a cyclone of unwonted fury burst 
■ \er this part of the Indian Ocean. The storehouses and 
mills, but recently renewed, were completely gutted and de- 
molished : .very house in both villages was carried completely 
away. Among the palm-trees the wind seems to have played 
a frantic and capricious devil's dance. Pirouetting wildly 
round the atoll, in some places it had cleared lanes hundreds 
el' yards in length, snapping off the trees close to the ground; 
in others, it had swooped down, without making an entrance or 
exit path, and borne bodily away large circular patches, leaving 
unharmed the encircling trees ; here and there, sometimes in 



IN TEE COCOS-EEELING ISLANDS. 19 



the centre of dense clumps, selecting a single stem— a thick 
tree of thirty years' growth — it had danced with it one light- 
ning revolution, and left it a permanent spiral screw perfectly 
turned, but otherwise uninjured. 

About midnight of the 28th, when intense darkness would 
have prevailed but for the incessant blaze of lightning, whose 
accompanying thunder was drowned by the roar of the tempest, 
when every one was endeavouring to save what rice — the only 
provision spared to them — they could, Mr. Eoss discovered to 
his horror, the bowsprit of a vessel which had been lying at 
anchor, riding on the top of a great wave straight for the wall 
behind which they sheltered. There was just time to make 
themselves fast before the water rushed over them, fortunately 
without carrying the ship through the wall; a second wave 
washed completely over the spot where Ross's house had stood, 
distant 150 yards from high-water mark. The storm attained 
its height about one o'clock on the morning of the 29th. At that 
hour nothing could resist the unsubstantial air, worked into a 
fury ; no obstacle raised a foot or two above the ground could 
resist its violence. The inhabitants saved themselves only 
by lying in hollows of the ground. To what distance the 
barometer might have fallen, it is impossible to say, for the 
mercurial was carried away, and two aneroids gave in at 
26J inches. 

The following morning broke bright and calm, as if the 
tempestuous riot of the night might have been an evil dream, 
only not a speck of green could be seen anywhere within the 
compass of the islands. Round the whole atoll the solid coral 
conglomerate floor was scooped under, broken up and thrown in 
vast fragments on the beach. On the eastern shore of Home 
Island, in particular just opposite the settlement, I observed 
a wall of many yards breadth, portions of it thrown up clear 
over the external high rim of the island, and several yards 
inwards among the cocoanut trees, all along the margin of the 
island. After six months, every tree and shrub Mas clothed 
in verdure ; and before three years, they were in full bearing 
again. 

About thirty-six hours after the cyclone the water on the 
eastern side of the lagoon was observed to be using up fr<jm 
below of a dark colour. The origin of the spring, which 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



continued t ze out for about tea to fourteen days, lay soine- 

wne re between the southern end of New Sehma and the 
northern end of Gooseberry Island. The colour was of an inky 
hue, and ita smell " like that of rotten eggs." From this point 
ir Bpread south-westward as far as the deep baylet in South- 
east [sland, where meeting the currents, flowing in at the 
ltd and northern entrances, which run, the one round 
the western, the other round the eastern shore of the lagoon, 
ita, westward progress was stopped; whereupon, turning north- 
wards through the middle of the lagoon (becoming slightly 
less >lark as it proceeded), it debouched into the ocean by the 
northern channel. Within twenty-four hours, every fish, coral 
and mollusc, in the part impregnated with this discolouring 
substance— probably hydrosulphuric or carbonic acid — died. 
So great was the number of fish thrown on the beach, that it 
took three weeks of hard work to bury them in a vast trench 
dug in the sand. 

At the time of my visit, the islands were slowly recovering 
from this sad disaster, and the whole settlement, living far from 
the busy strife of the world, yet sufficiently mingling with 
ir to afford contentment without envy, seemad the ideal of a 
peaceful and happy colony. Mr. Koss, who is associated with 
several of his brothers, occupies a commodious and comfortable 
house midway between the two villages, surrounded by a high 
wall, enclosing a large garden in which fruit-trees and shrubs 
. — sow manilla (Mimusops), bananas, loquat (Eriobotrija), Poin- 
eianas, and roses in grand profusion, — seem to flourish remark- 
ably well, notwithstanding the scanty soil. Each Keeling 
family possesses its own neat plank house, comfortably fur- 
nished, enclosed in a little garden. Housed in a trim shed by 
the water's edge, each has one or more boats. These boats are 
fchek pride; and so ardently do they vie with each other in 
their speed, and in the elegance of their shape and furnishings, 
that the village possesses'a fleet of really masterpieces of boat 
architecture. Living on the sea, as they do, they are all from 
their birth naturally skilful sailors ; and one of the pleasantest 
reminiscences of my' visit, is the sight of that little white- 
sailed fleet heating home across the lagoon, in a sunny evening, 
against a stiffish breeze. 

It was exceedingly pleasant to observe the cordial and 



IN THE COCOS-EEELING ISLANDS. 21 



affectionate relations existing between The House and the Cocos 
village. I noted little presents of first ripe fruit, or specially 

large eggs constantly being offered. When a death occurs 

as one did during my visit — it is felt by each individual as if 
the departed, had been of his own family. The interment 
takes place as soon as possible, and the usual vocations are 
resumed at once, every one trying, as best he may, to seem as 
if he had forgotten that they were one fewer. That in their 
relations one with another there should be perfection, is not to 
be expected, but a finer and more upright community I have 
never known ; not a simpler or more guileless people — many 
of whom have never known, and never seen a world wider than 
their own atoll, which can be surveyed in a single glance of 
the eye ; and I feel more than half confident that the English 
Service for the Dead has been said over, and that beneath the 
coral shingle of Grave Islet there rest, as blameless lives as 
perhaps our weak humanity can attain to. 

The labourers' village is neatly kept, and though the coolies 
live under a stricter regime, they are treated liberally and 
kindly, and housed in comfortable dwellings. Their children 
are educated along with the Cocos children. Should a head of 
a family die, his children are, at the mother's option, sent 
back to their native place in Java, or if she elect, she and 
they may throw in their lot with, and after a certain probation 
become, Cocos people. Malay is the language spoken in both 
villages, though many of the Cocos people understand English. 

As this was my first acquaintance with living coral formation, 
everything about me had the interest of novelty. My first 
morning's walk was to the seaward margin of the reef. As half 
a century is hardly a clay's life in the existence of an atoll, Mr. 
Darwin's accurate description of that part of it might have 
been written the day before. The waves so continually break 
on the shore, that it is difficult, except on the very stillest 
days, to examine the coral on the furthest margin ; yet I got 
every now and then, on the recoil of the waves, a good view of 
the shoals of Scams feeding in the surf on the living coral. 
They are furnished on the front of their heads with soft pads, 
so as to be able to retain their position undisturbed among the 
breakers, by squeezing hard up against the uneven wall, while 
they are gnawing off the tips of the living polyps. During 



22 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



,„\ \i. lt I had ao very calm days; but in the still waters of 
the lagoon there was enough to occupy the busiest pair of eyes 

for weeks. 

The wonderful display of colour seen in the placid water of a 
lagoon has been often described ; hut it can give to one, who 
has oof himself visited a coral reef, but a very slight idea of 
the fairy bowers to be seen from over the side of a boat 
gliding gently across the surface of such a marine lake. 

I carefully examined that part of the lagoon over which the 
poisoned water had spread, on a day when the water was so 
calm tint I could see the minutest objects on the bottom. Its 
whole eastern half was one vast field of blackened and lifeless 
coral stems, and of the vacant and lustreless shells of giant 
clams and other Mollusca, paralysed and killed in all stages 
of expansion. Everywhere both shells and coral were deeply 
corroded, the coral especially being in many places worn down 
to the solid base. Since the catastrophe, there had been, till 
almost the date of my visit, no sign of life in that portion of 
the lagoon; I saw very few fishes, and only here and there 
a new branch of Madrepora and Porites. I found only one 
tridacna alive (its three years' growth being 12 inches in 
Length, and 13 in breadth). 

That an earthquake certainly occurred on this reef, as 
recorded by Mr. Darwin, two years before the visit of the 
Beagle, is an interesting fact. That an earthquake took place 
in 1876, cannot, I think, judging from the tidal wave, be 
doubted, although no tremor was detected by any one on the 
island — scarcely to be wondered at during the war of the 
elements. The wave, as well as the darkened water which 
issued, doubtless from a submarine rent, was almost certainly 
the result of volcanic disturbance in the close vicinity of the 
atoll. Mr. Darwin has described a dead field of coral observed 
by him, in the upper and south-east part, and has accounted 
for it by assuming, from information given him by Mr. Leisk, 
that S.E. island had been at one time divided into several 
islets by channels, whose closing up had prevented the water 
from rising so high in the lagoon as formerly; and that, 
therefore, the corals, which had attained their utmost possible 
limit of upward growth, must have been killed by occasional 
exposure to the sun. 



IN THE C0C0S-KEEL1NG ISLANDS. 23 



I examined the chart made by Eoss in 1825, ten years 
before Mr. Darwin's visit, but it exhibited no perceptible 
difference in the external configuration of the various islets. 
The soundings in the lagoon, however, showed a greater 
continuous depth at that time, and I am told that his vessel 
sailed, on her first coming, far up the bay, and anchored 
where now no ship can nearly approach. It is more probable 
that the explanation of this dead field lies in the supposition 
that a like phenomenon to that just narrated accompanied the 
earthquake of 1834. Beyond the boundary affected by the 
dark water, the coral was unharmed, and growing vigorously 
in thick bosses, (called " patches " by Mr. Darwin,) composed 
chiefly of Madrepora and PociUopora, between which were 
basins of no great diameter, but reaching to a depth of some 
eight or ten fathoms, which were marvellous natural aquaria 
planted round with anemones, tesselated in blue and green 
designs with Fungise and brain-corals. But why no other 
species should grow in these deep clear pits, and why the 
various corals forming the bosses — which are chiefly of 
Echinopora lamellosa — do not stretch out their arms into 
and obliterate them, seems difficult to understand. 

In the small boat channel close to the settlement, one of the 
few poisoned places in which the coral had begun to grow 
vigorously since 1876, I dislodged with my hand several 
living bunches from the chalky bottom on which they 
were growing. Their average diameter across the top was 
12 inches, and their height from the centre to the tip of 
the branches 6j inches. This channel was thoroughly 
cleaned out down to the white mud on the 20th May, 1878, 
and as my measurements were made on the 30th January, 
1879, the age of these bunches was under eight and a half 
months. 

I could not help being struck by the number of brilliantly 
hued fishes in the deep pools of the lagoon. Banded and 
spotted Murcenoids (species of Lsiuranus and Opisurus) glided 
about in snake-like fashion ; in sea-weed or hydroid-covered 
crevices motionless Antennarii lay in wait, but it required a 
sharp eye to distinguish their quaintly adorned and mimicking 
bodies from the excrescences of their retreat. Other singular 
denizens of the lagoon are the Crayracions, which look like 



j I A naturalist's wanderings 



ronn d hedgehogs floating (as they do often) 0:1 the surface of 
the water; their jaws are armed with formidable solid teeth to 
enable them to Peed on the coral ; and the File-fishes, painted 

w ith nil. in bands and harnessed with blue bridle-lines, 

which not only feed on the coral, but bore their way through 
the shells of Mollusca to extract the succulent morsels within. 
Their bodies terminate in a most convenient-looking tail, as 
if made purposely to handle them by, and I could not help 
feeling maliciously imposed on when I did so, by having 
very precipitately to drop a fine specimen I was lifting for 
examination, on the sharp hidden spines, with which that 
organ is set, running into my hand like a series of lances. 
One of the commonest genera of fishes in the tropical seas 
of the Atlantic, Australian and Indo-Pacific regions is the 
Chaetodon, which is particularly attractive on account of the 
form ami the singular brilliance of the coloration of its species. 
The heaps of fish that my boys, a couple of urchins not more 
than four years of age, used, by alternately harpooning and 
(living after them to bring in, formed when piled on the white 
background of the coral shore, a bright picture indeed from 
the wonderful variety of their colours — emerald-green, cobalt- 
blue, rich orange, and even scarlet. 

31 <>st of the lagoon fishes are good for food; but there 
is a species of Sccirus which requires to be prepared for the 
table with very great care, for should the gall-bladder be 
ruptured, and its contents escape into the body-cavity, the 
flesh of the fish becomes quite poisoned. Several fatal cases 
had occurred in the settlement, especially among children, 
who almost immediately after partaking of the flesh were 
seized with giddiness and stupor, followed by death, with a 
dropsical state of the body, within two or three hours. The 
effect of the application of the bile externally produced simply 
a nad fester. A woman while cleaning such a fish by the shore, 

" u "" icasion threw out the entrails on the water, when a 

Frigate-bird {Taxihypet.es minor) which had been hovering over 
her, swooping down picked up the tempting morsel; but it 
had risen only some thirty feet in the air, when it fell back on 
tle> water lifeless. The sharks, the albacore {Thynnus termo) 
and tin- baracuta are the pirates of the lagoon, and the chief 
agents in restraining its over-population. 



IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 25 

Among the branches of the ginger-coral, a great variety of 
Crustacea are to be seen creeping about, and in all the crevices 
Mollusca of every family, most conspicuous among them being 
the giant clams of the genus Tridaena, whose mantle edged with 
turquoise beads forms a beautiful object to look down on ; but 
one must shudder for the diver who should accidentally thrust 
his head or a limb into its gape, which the slightest touch 
causes to close with a snap. 

Nor was the interest of the atoll confined to its surf-beaten 
barrier and its teeming lagoon ; every foot of the surface of the 
land, every atom of its substance, every stem of the vegetation 
that covered it, and each separate existence that crept or 
winged itself on and around it, by its very presence in this 
mid-ocean speck, was charged with a wondrous tale of strange 
vicissitudes and wanderings. By the inner margins of some 
of the islands (as will bo seen on looking at the map), and 
forming lagoonlets in some of them, there are soft limy mud- 
flats, which are gradually becoming land, mainly by slow 
elevation and by crustacean agency. 

One of the largest of these is in West Island. Its lagoon- 
ward portion, near the entrance conduit, which is submerged 
at high water, is tenanted by two, if not three, species of 
crab (Gelasimus vocans, tetragonon, and annulipes). They live 
in narrow corkscrew burrows, round the top of which there 
is always a little mound just such as is seen about an earth- 
worm's ; and indeed they are most perfect worm substitutes. 
I counted one hundred and twenty of their holes in an area 
only two feet square ; and as there were many square acres in 
the ground of which I speak, some idea of the number of this 
busy army may be obtained. They were incessantly active 
during the recess of the tide and even during high water, 
which is generally perfectly still, in carrying down twigs of 
trees or fucus leaves, scraps of cocoanut shell, and seeds, 
laying the foundation of the future land. 

On placing the foot on the region occupied by them, one 
perceives an undulation of the surface followed, over a circular 
area, by a surprising change of the pure white ground into a 
warm pink colour, which for the moment the stranger puts down 
to some affection of his eyes from the reflection of the light. 
He soon perceives that this movement is caused by the simul- 



2G 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



toneona stampede of the dense crowd of the peopled shore into 
theix dwellings, just within the door of which they halt, with 
the larger of their two pincer-claws, which is of a rich pink 
colour, "effectually barring the entrance except where one 
watchful Btalked eve is thrust out to take an inquiring look 
if the alarm is real. As one advances the pink areas again 
change into white, as the Crustaceans withdraw into their sub- 
terranean fastnesses. On traversing a broad field occupied by 
these crabs, the constant undulations and change of colours, 
produce a curious dazzling effect on the eyes. 
The land between tide-marks is occupied by another turret- 
I vigilant pioneer of vegetable occupation against marine 
possession, which extends its operations further landward than 
the Gelasimus, and where the ground is more or less wet. This 
is a species of MacrophthaMus whose colour protects it from 
general observation till it starts to run. One-third of its time 
is spent under water, and two-thirds in energetic mining opera- 
tions on land. It is to be seen constantly scattering around it, 
with a nervous jerk, the arm-fulls of sand which, held between 
its body and clawed foot, it has dragged up from below out of 
the burrows into which it carries all sorts of vegetable debris. 
On the slightest sound it scampers off to take refuge in the 
water, and is at once noticeable by its mobile stalked eyes curi- 
ously pricked up high over its body. These eye-stalks are 
conical cylinders set round, except on the narrow area along 
which they are applied to each other in the mid-line of the 
body, with facets which really form perfect little watch-towers. 
commanding an unobstructed outlook to all points of the 
compass. 

The area along the dry margin of the land is occupied 
by a third — a short-eyed — species of crab (Ocypocla), whose 
labours seem to tell more than those of the others. Besides 
burying smaller particles of vegetable debris, it lowers down 
large branches of trees, and even cocoa-nuts, by scooping away 
the soil below them, and carries down also the newly fallen seeds 
of the iron-wood tree (Cordia). Both these trees, which along 
with a rough sort of grass (Lephirus rejpens) and the hard- 
wooded Pemphis acidula lead the van of vegetable occupation 
of lands wrested from the sea, are in this way aided in their 
forward march. As soon, however, as its busy labours have. 



IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 27 

changed the white calcareous fore-shore into a dark vegetable 
mould, its occupation seems gone, and it retires in quest of 
new land to conquer. 

Further landward the soil is tilled and turned up to the sun 
and rain by a species of Gecarcinus, which lives almost entirely 
in the dry land, visiting the sea only in times of great drought. 
A still more effective tiller is the great cocoa-nut crab (Birgus 
latro), one of the largest of shore Crustacea. It is chiefly noc- 
turnal in its habits, and is not so often seen as the others. It 
makes in the ground deep tunnels, larger than rabbit burrows, 
lined for warmth (?) with cocoa-nut fibre. It has a habit of 
climbing the cocoa-nut palms, but whether to take the air or 
for temporary lodging is doubtful ; it does not rob the trees, 
however, as has been charged against it, since it feeds only on 
fruits that have fallen. One of its pincer-claws is developed 
into an organ of extraordinary power, capable, when the creature 
is enraged, of breaking a cocoa-nut shell or a man's limb. The 
inner edges of the claw are armed with a series of white 
enamelled denticulations whose resemblance to teeth is 
singularly close, even to the irregular scarlet line below them 
which might pass for gums. The Birgus feeds on the nuts 
almost exclusively, using its great claw to denude the fruit of 
the husk surrounding it, and to get at the eye of the nut, which 
it has learned is the only easy gateway to the interior. 

Of the three eye-spots seen at the end of a cocoa-nut only 
one permits an easy entrance. The Birgus does not waste its 
energies in denuding the whole nut, and it never denudes the 
wrong end. Having pierced the proper eye with one of its 
spindle ambulatory legs, it rotates the nut round it till the 
orifice is large enough to permit the insertion of its great claw 
to break up the shell and triturate its contents, whose particles 
it then carries to its mouth by means of its other and smaller 
cheliferous foot. 

From this nutritious diet it accumulates beneath its tail 
a store of fat, which dissolves by heat into a rich yellow oil, of 
which a large specimen will often yield as much as two pints. 
Thickened in the sun, it forms an excellent substitute for 
butter in all its uses. I discovered it to be a valuable pre- 
serving lubricant for guns and steel instruments ; and only 
when a small bottle of it, which I had had for two years, was 



28 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



finished, did I fully realise what a precious anti-corrosive in 
these humid regions I had lost. 

The Birgw, though belonging to a water-living family, 
spends the gr ater part of its time on the land, and Professor 
Semper - has discovered that, following on its change of habit, 
a portioD of the gill-cavities of this singular crustacean have 
become modified into an organ for breathing air— "into a true 

lung," in fact. 

No1 less interesting than the marine, was the terrestrial life 
of these lonely isles. Mr. Darwin's famous visit was made 
about eleven years after their colonisation. More than half a 
century more had elapsed till I landed there. In 1836 Mr. 
Darwin gathered some twenty-two species of flowering plants. 
On comparing the list (at the end of this Part) of the plants 
collected or identified on the atoll by me with Professor Hens- 
low's of those collected by Mr. Darwin, it will be observed that 
considerable additions have been made to its flora. It is not 
improbable, however, that a few of those not enumerated by 
Professor Henslow may have been overlooked by Darwin during 
the occupied days of the Beagles short stay. Some are of more 
recent introduction, and are due with little doubt to the 
accidents of human inter-communication, while others have 
been intentionally introduced. Direct intercourse has princi- 
pally been with Java, Mauritius, and India, and occasionally 
with Australia, by means of horse-laden vessels calling for 
water. The greater part of the indigenous vegetation consists, 
as Mr. Darwin has pointed out, of plants common to Australia 
and Timor ; and it is certainly these we should most expect to 
find here, as the ocean currents which wash the shores of the 
atoll by running westward from Australian seas, and sweeping 
round north-eastward in the Indian Ocean towards Sumatra 
and Java, bring it nearer to Australia and the eastern part of 
the Archipelago than to its geographically closer neighbours. 
Thus by slow degrees and after many a failure have the ocean 
streams succeeded in clothing this lone speck with verdure. 

When first occupied the islands were covered abundantly 
with iron-wood (Cordia) and Pemplris acidula, as well as cocoa 
palms. Accidental fires, however, both on North Keeling 

* ( '/. ' The Natural Conditions of Existence as they affect Animal Life,' by- 
Karl Semper, International Scries ; p. 193. Kegau Paul & Co. 1881. 



IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 29 



(fifteen miles distant) and on the south islands, destroyed nearly- 
all the iron-wood forests, the most valuable timber the colonists 
possessed. This tree grows often with a most curious archino- 
habit, and as the name they have given it indicates, its timber 
is very durable. I saw a trunk on one of the islets which after an 
exposure of over forty years was in every part perfectly sound ; 
nnd a beam whose natural curve fitted without artificial bend- 
ing the double arch of the ribs of a schooner of 200 tons building 
on the stocks of the island. The vegetation of the islands is 
now almost entirely cocoa-nut trees. 

The history of this commonest member of its family might 
occupy a long and interesting chapter, if space permitted. 
Few, perhaps, know it better than Mr. Ross ; and while enjoy- 
ing the grateful shade and the delicious beverage that its 
fruits supply, I passed many a pleasant half hour in listening 
to his accounts of its growth and habits. As a rule it is a 
branchless palm, but on West Island he took me to see its rare 
occurrence as a branching tree, which, instead of fruiting spikes, 
invariably produced persistent branches crowned with a bunch 
of leaves — adding to the beauty of the already graceful palm. 

Most nuts, as is well known, contain, on opening them, only 
one ovary cavity, but, as the three eye-spots indicate, all nuts 
ought to have, were they not naturally suppressed, three of these. 
Many of the Keeling palms produce not only their full com- 
plement of three compartments, but, what is more surprising, 
some have as many as eight and even fourteen. Such nuts 
produce palms with a common root, but with as many stems as 
they have cells. Under favourable conditions the cocoa-nut 
can produce its first fruit within four years from the fall of 
the seed nut from its parent tree, while it can go on for an 
unknown period throwing out every month a new fruit spike 
bearing from seven to fourteen nuts, which require from eight 
to thirteen months to ripen. 

The palms in the centre of the islets grow to a greater height 
—some of them to 120 feet, — on account of the deeper soil and 
more abundant supply of fresh water, than those along the 
shores, but the oil-producing capacity of their fruit is not, 
however, greater. More oil is obtained from nuts which have 
formed during the early part, and ripened during the later 
months of the year. Mr. Ross assured me that during every 
4 



A NA mi A LIST'S WANDERINGS 



full moon, many of the fruits exposed fully to its rays 
are blighted, the pulp becoming puckered and shrunk. Sun- 
Btroke, he said, was also very common ; but in this case the 
affected iral Bhrivels up, and when it is opened only a withered 
embryo is found inside. 

I searched for the two trees seen, but not obtained by Mr. 
Darwin, as mentioned in his « Voyage.' Of the one " of great 
height on West Island" I would have secured specimens but 
for an unfortunate discharge by a twig of Mr. Eoss's gun, 
resulting in a severe and painful wound to his hand (happily 
not m«.re serious than a bad flesh wound), which necessitated 
our return home, before we had succeeded. As it was the last 
occasion 1 could visit the islet, I was unable certainly to iden- 
tify the tree, although from the seeds which I obtained, I have 
little doubt that it is a species of Pisonia (probably P. inermis) 
which is found in the Australian and Pacific islands. Its 
seeds are spiny and glutinous, and, by adhering in great 
numbers to their feathers, often prove fatal to the herons that 
nest in its summit. As many sea-fowl have almost a cosmo- 
politan distribution, it is easy to perceive how widely this tree 
might be disseminated by the birds that roost on it. 

Mr. Darwin records that he took pains to collect every kind 
of insect he saw. Exclusive of spiders, which were numerous, 
thirteen species were found by him. A list of all those col- 
lected or seen by me would far outrun Mr. Darwin's, showing 
that by some means or other species are still finding their way 
to this distant spot. Unfortunately, this collection was destroyed 
on my way back to Java, and cannot be now named ; but few, if 
any, of the species were referable to Australian, Timorese or 
East Archipelago forms, so that the origin of the fauna is 
evidently different from that of the flora of the atoll, and is 
doubtless due to many chance passengers, that half a century of 
the coming and going of ships has brought as stowaways and 
landed unknowingly ; now an adhering cluster of eggs, now a 
gravid female, or perchance a mated couple. From the testi- 
mony of Mr. Ross, whom I have found a most accurate observer, 
the cyclones of 186:! and of 1876 added, if not new species, at 
a host of new individuals to the Keeling fauna. 

Among Coleoptera Mr. Darwin mentions only one small 
Elater; while I observed hosts of small Melolonthidss (genus 



IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 31 

Serica) and Rutelidze (genus Anomala), whose presence, I am 
told, had been noted in abundance for only a few years previous 
to my visit. I saw them frequenting almost every open flower, 
towards which they were performing the kind fertilising office 
usually done by bees, whose place they seemed to take. Of 
Ortlioptera, besides the ubiquitous cockroach {Blatta orientalis), 
there were a few Acrididae, and the common locust, which 
was found in increased numbers after the cyclone. The 
Hemiptera were represented by several species. 

Of Neuroptera, white ants had spread their baneful hordes to 
most of the islands ; while Chrijsopa innotataajid dragon-flies were 
very plentiful. Immediately after the cyclone the surface of the 
water was observed to be densely strewn with broken bodies of 
the latter, as if, in its course, the wind had encountered a cloud 
of them, and scattered their mangled remains as it travelled. 
I did not succeed in collecting any true Hymenoptera, but ants 
were abundant ; a minute Fire-ant (Camponotus), the common 
Javan long-legged venomless species, and several black sorts 
had become domiciled on the islands. Every trading vessel in 
the tropics has its formicine fauna, and cannot help acting as a 
transporter of all sorts of ants from one region of it to another. 
Lepidoptera had perhaps increased more than any other family. 
The Biopoea, so common in Java among the sensitive Mimosa, 
and a minute Plume-moth sheltering among the red-wood (Pern- 
phis acidula), and the Scwvola, were perhaps the most common ; 
the large Atlas-moth had become a settled resident here, as 
well as several moderately large diurnal species with a habit 
of pitching on the warm, bare ground and frequenting the 
Guetarda and the Asclepias cuirassavica. Among several sorts 
of flies, an Asilus, much like the large carnivorous fly common 
in South Europe, was most conspicuous. 

The Mammalian fauna of the Keelings was an entirely 
introduced one. A herd of deer on Horsburgh Island, was in- 
teresting as being a cross between the Javan Rusa (Cervus hip- 
pelaplvus) and the darker Sumatran species (Cervus equinus). 
Pigs ran semi-wild, and throve remarkably well on the broken 
scraps of cocoa-nuts everywhere lying about in the woods. 
Australian sheep, which fed on the Portulaca oleracea, on 
a species of grass, and on the tubers of an aroid which they 
scraped up, did not seem to suffer much from the novel maritime 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



conditions under which they found themselves. The settlers 
tvould he rendered supremely happy if such conditions would 
by any means prove prejudicial to the rats— the sole living 
creature unwelcome to their island home— whose fecundity is 
becoming appalling, for every vessel that calls serves to infuse 
only fresh blood and vigour into the race. 

tasionally flying foxes (Pteropus) reach the atoll, but 
hitherto in too exhausted a state to survive. Once a pair 
arrived together; but both, unfortunately, soon died. It is 
,,,,, improbable that some day, through the favourable cir- 
cumstance of an unusually strong and healthy pair shaping 
their course Keeling-wards, they may yet survive the arduous 
journey, and the atoll find them some morning added to its 
fauna. What has only just failed here, has doubtless suc- 
ceeded in other oceanic islands, with different volant species. 

Bird life was limited, but very interesting. Graceful 
Noddies (Anous stolidus) and Gannets (8u 7 a piscatrix) were 
in thousands ; and I had the satisfaction of watching what has 
been over and over described, but was new to me, how their 
industrious habits are taken advantage of by the swift-winged 
Frigate-birds. Hiding in the lee of the cocoa-nut trees, the 
Tachypetes would sally out on the successful fishers returning 
in the evening, and perpetrate a vigorous assault on them 
till they disgorged for their behoof at least a share of their 
supper, which they caught in mid-air as it fell. Such feelings 
of reprobation as I ought to have felt at their conduct was, I 
fear, not very deep ; for the swoop after the falling spoil was so 
elegant an evolution, that, I confess, I always hoped that the poor 
NToddy would give up as heavy a morsel as possible, in order to 
necessitate a correspondingly eager dive after it. Eefractory 
Gannets were often seized by the tail by the Frigate-birds, and 
treated to a shake that rarely failed of successful results. 
Fierce foes as they were in the air, on terra jirma they roosted 
hear each other like the best of friends. They breed only on 
North Keeling, and during that season the bare skin of the 
throat is of a very rich scarlet colour. They are powerful 
Biers, and can head against even a gale by taking in a reef in 
their long wings, so as to expose only the greater quills to its 
force. 

The Tachypetes minor used to nest in the bushes of Pemphis 



IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 33 

acidula on the South Keeling group ; but since the settle- 
ment, constant interruption from the nut-gatherers has driven 
it to breed in North Keeling. When brought up from the 
nest in a state of semi-captivity, they can be trained to aid in 
the capture of their fellows, which are much used as food by 
the settlers. 

A hunter wishing to shoot a few of these birds, throws out 
within gunshot on the surface of the water a piece of attractive 
bait, which the tame Frigate-bird swoops down, almost osten- 
tatiously, time after time, to pick up. Several of its hungry 
brethren, always banging about, soon make their appearance 
to struggle for a share ; after two or three gyrations, the eager 
stranger swoops down for the tempting morsel, the decoy 
soars out of reach, while his unfortunate dupe falls a victim. 
If the others take flight, the same tactics will be followed 
again and again by the decoy, who exhibits no alarm at the 
report of the gun or the death throes of its companions. 

The white, satin-feathered Tropic-bird {Phaeton Candidas) 
was far from uncommon ; but being a very high flier it was 
difficult to secure specimens of it. I was happy, nevertheless, 
to be able to examine in the flesh one, at least, of these 
beautiful creatures. It must possess wonderfully acute powers 
of sight, for when sailing along at a great elevation, I have 
seen it suddenly descend like an arrow, disappear below the 
surface of the sea, and in a few moments soar up with its prey 
in its mouth. 

On West Island two species of Heron (Herodias nigripes, and 
Demiegretta sacra) nested on the high Pisonia trees, and, as I 
have said above, often died from the number of the glutinous 
seeds which clogged their feathers. The Australian Night- 
heron (Nycticorax caledonicus) builds on the same trees. This 
is the first record of its occurrence so far to the west, and 
ranging, as it does, from New Caledonia through the Moluc- 
cas and Timor, some ancestor of its own may, perchance, 
have carried out thence the seeds of the trees on which it now 
builds, just as its own young may be now distributing them 
to distant isles. 

The most engaging of all the birds was our little pilot, the 
pure white Tern (Gijgis Candida) so chastely spoken of by Mr. 
Darwin. As the swallow is to us, such a pet is this bird to 



34 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



,1,,. settlers. Ir chooses a strange place to set its nest in, if 
one may bo Bpeak of its brooding place. Its solitary egg is 
deposited on the leaf of a young cocoa-nut palm, at the time 
when the leaf has rotated from its vertical position to one 
nearly at right angles to the stem. The egg is laid in the 
narrow angular gape between two leaflets on the summit of the 
aid, of the leaf, where it rests securely, without a scrap of nest, 
in what one would think the most unsafe position possible, yet 
defying the heaving and twisting of the leaves in the strongest 
winds. The leaf, as in all palms, goes on drooping further and 
further till it falls ; and among the settlers it is a subject of 
keen betting, when they see a Tern sitting on an ominously 
withered leaf, whether the young bird will be hatched or not 
before the leaf foils. The result I am told has always been in 
favour of the bird ; if the leaf fall in the afternoon, the Tern 
will have escaped from the egg in the morning. 

Not infrequently the " Tjoo-Tjooit " lays its egg on a ledge 
in the work-sheds of the island, but it never builds a nest. 
The young one is fed incessantly by the parents with fishes, 
which are brought in mouthfnls of generally six at a time, 
arranged alternately head and tail. The old birds often feed 
on the Papaya fruit, hovering on their wings all the wdiile like 
honeysuckers at a flower. This beautiful bird is to be found 
only on the lone islands of the great oceans. 

Besides the little Philippine Kail (Rallus philippensis), a 
resident species often employed by the colonists to hatch out 
their domestic fowls, which they do with care, a species of Snipe 
and a Teal visit the islands every February and March in large 
numbers, where they find a grateful rest in that annual voyage — 
v, hence and whither I could not ascertain — that the changing 
ms rcsistlessly impel them to. Jungle fowl, introduced 
from Java, were breeding and throve well; and lastly, I ob- 
tained some nests of the Yellow Weaver-bird (Ploceus liypox- 
anthns. | Strange to say, it also comes often across the sea (most 
probably from Java) to nest on this lone island. Mr. Eoss in- 
formed me that it builds more frequently on North Keeling; 
neither parents n<»r brood, however, take up their residence, 
hut wend their way back whence they came, leaving their 
elegant flask-shaped nests on the branches of the trees to 
intimate that they have come and gone. 



llfiXL IU 111U SllllUCU ux ~~ , — U ' 

To escape this latter most improbable admission, which implies 
the existence of submarine chains of mountains of almost the 




' "" " ••".' "■*' ^ mici.v.o moy came, leaving iirr- 

elegant flask-shaped nests on the branches of the trees to 
intimate that they have come and o-one. 



IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 35 



CHAPTER III. 

SOJOURN IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS — continued. 

Coral reef formation — Observations on the elevation or subsidence of the 
Keeling atoll. 

As the Keeling atoll was the reef most carefully examined and 
described by Mr. Darwin, and that with which, in propounding 
his famous theory of coral reefs, he has compared the others he 
describes, I felt specially pleased at being able to go over 
his own ground with his book in my hand, and gain a clearer 
understanding of several points which I had found it difficult 
to comprehend. 

Unfortunately the weather during my visit was not suffi- 
ciently favourable to enable me to examine so closely as I 
could have desired the corals of the outer margins or to make 
the series of seaward soundings I had intended. 

The first questions that present themselves to the traveller 
in midst of his amazement on first reaching that peculiar 
production of the warm seas — an island-speckled ring of coral 
holding its own against the waves — are, How came it into being 
here, Why of this singular form, and How does it continue to 
exist ? Mr. Darwin was the first to attempt any far-reaching 
solution of these difficult questions, applicable to coral forma- 
tions over all the world. As true reef-building corals, it is well 
known, can flourish only beneath a very limited depth — some 
twenty fathoms — of water, a great apparent difficulty existed 
" respecting the foundations on which these atolls are based, 
from the immensity of the spaces over which they are inter- 
spersed and the apparent necessity for believing that they are 
all supported on mountain summits, which, although rising very 
^par to the surface of the sea, in no one instance emerge above it. 
To escape this latter most improbable admission, which implies 
the existence of submarine chains of mountains of almost the 




Map of the 

I'OCOS ttRUKFJiINC 

exhibiting' the cutuig'es 
that haw taken ulace since 1836. 

mtlinr and 'rmarb printed in black, is a 
rrduriion of Q-e Admiralty chart published m J86C 
Inr changes that, have oaaurred,,aaditbiaaUd h, 
AT Forbes, 1879, trr'r jnarked, inJted- 
At-ea of poisoned, water. Jan? 187& .E33 

Soundings in fathoms. t/wse marked, (has jib uuhjoatc 
that tut hottom was found, cut, those depths. 



i 



H«rper kSrotiers JfewYort 



gg A XATf/; A LIST'S WANDERINGS 



saim 
milt 



■ height, extending over areas of many thousand square 
s there is but one alternative; namely, the prolonged subsi- 
denct of the foundations on which the atolls were primarily based, 
together with the upward growth of the reef-constructing corals." * 
Since Mr. Darwin published this theory, several expeditions 
expressly directed towards the examination of the floor of the 
great oceans have taken place, prominent among them being 
the United States Exploring Expedition, the Tuscarora, the 
Blake, and our own Challenger voyages. These have put us in 
possession of a large body of facts scarcely guessed at when 
Mr. Darwin broke deep ground on this subject. Mr. Dana, 
Professor Semper, Professor Agassiz and Mr. Murray of the 
Challenger staff, have also specially made coral reefs a subject 
of study. These three last named investigators have shown 
that the explanation of coral reef formation may be in other 
causes than those of elevation and subsidence. Great submarine 
hanks have been discovered, " covered by deposits of Pteropods 
and Globigerina ooze serving as foundations for barrier reefs 
and atolls, while their volcanic substratum has been completely 
hidden." "The fact that these great submarine banks of 
mi idem limestone lie in the very track of the great oceanic 
currents sufficiently shows that these currents hold the immense 
quantity of carbonate of lime needed in the growth of the 
banks. . . . Mr. Murray has shown that if the pelagic fauna 
and flora extend . . ., as experiments seem conclusively to 
prove, to a depth of 100 fathoms, we should have 16 tons of 
carbonate of lime for every square mile 100 fathoms deep. 
But the greater the depth at which these plateaux begin to 
form, the less rapid must be their formation. Deep water 
itself being, as Professor Ditmar has recently shown,f a greater 
>. d\ ( nt (not from, as has been held, its containing a much greater 
proportion of free carbonic acid, but because of its depth,) than 
(shallower water, would dissolve up all the lighter and thinner 
calcareous shells and debris; Avhile in less deep water, the dead 
siliceous and calcareous shells of Foraminifera, Sponges, Hy- 
druids. Corals, Mollusca, etc., would accumulate and build up 
these plateaux," with a calcareous conglomerate. " Whenever 

l*e Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs,' bv Cha.ks Darwin, 
p. 1 1 •-; ■ I he ital.es are the present author's. 

of the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.Y.S. 
nger: Physics and Chemistry. Vol. T. 



IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 37 



such plateaux have reached, on their windward side, the level 
at which corals prosper, that is, some 120 feet below the surface, 
these coral reefs spring up and flourish,"* and subsisting at a 
greater depth than all others, a solid foundation is laid by the 
close compactly growing Astrasas ; then on their dense floor, in 
whose myriad crannies, molluscs and all manner of marine 
beings have sheltered, died and left their shells compacted by the 
carbonate of lime let loose from their partial disintegration and 
solution into a solid limestone conglomerate consisting of coral, 
of shells and of all that may have fallen on it, which they have 
raised layer above layer as near the surface as they may, the 
Brain-corals (Meandriiia) and the Porites assume and continue 
the upward task till they " in their turn reach the limit beyond 
which they are forbidden by the laws of their nature to pass. . . . 
But the coral wall continues its steady progress ; for here the 
lighter kinds set in — the Madrepores, the Millipores and a 
great variety of Sea-Ferns, — and the reef is crowned at last with 
a many-coloured shrubbery of low feathery growth." f 

This is in its main outlines Murray's, Semper's, and Agassiz's 
explanation of how a reef originates. Unfortunately for my 
own satisfaction and guidance when examining the Keeling reef, 
I had not read Professor Semper's views, and those of the other 
two naturalists were not then published. I have now pictured 
the reef as risen to almost the surface of the sea at ebb spring- 
tides ; higher than this the coral polyps, which die when 
exposed for a very short period only to the air and the sun, 
cannot raise it ; but as corals flourish best in the battle of the 
waves, which are better aerated and charged with the pelagic 
life which sustains them, they can extend only seaward and 
grow their fastest, checked solely where ocean currents scour too 
fiercely past them. In this stage such a coral structure (as the 
Keeling atoll) might be seen to be roughly circular in form, — 
observable also in all the raised islets of the group as well as 
in North Keeling, — doubtless by being beaten on all sides. 
Travelling from the exterior margin of the reef inwards, coral 
growth from less abundant sustenance is seen to be less 

* ' The Tortuga and Florida Reefs,' by Alexander Agassiz, Mem. Am. 
Soc. of Arts and Sc, vol. xi. p. 113. 

f « Florida Reef*,' L. Agassiz, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zoology, \\ 49. Proc. 
B. S. Edinb., No. 107, 1880 : " On the Structure and Origin of Coral Reefs and 
Islands." 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



luxuriant and has grown to a less height than more externally, 
;111 ,1 consequently we have a Lagoon, which sometimes, though 
rarely is enclosed by an unbroken ring of coral; more com- 
monly, however, (as in Keeling atoll) the reef is intersected by 
several channels communicating between the lagoon and the 
outer ocean. These channels are produced by many causes, 
such as, swift currents interrupting the growth, decay of 
the coral from local causes, and natural or accidental dis- 
turbances. 

On a subsiding or stationary foundation such a reef, raised 
to the level of low-water mark, can never by any luxuriance of 
its own growth rise above the water level and become a coral 
island. Great storms, however, by breaking off blocks of its 
living and ever seaward-growing margin, and throwing them 
on the lagoonward portion of the reef, alone are able to 
commence the raising above the surface of the ocean of 
future islets, on which after the gradual accumulation of soil, 
consisting of sand and the decaying flotsam and jetsam of the 
ocean, and the germinating seeds that the winds, the sea currents, 
or the birds of the air may chance to cast on its bosom, a 
green clothing of vegetation inevitably grows up. 

In traversing the Keel in g atoll it seemed to be unaccount- 
able how the interior, or lagoon margins of the islets, which 
must necessarily have been thrown up above water at the 
earliest stage of the existence of the atoll, still continue (on 
the supposition that the atoll is subsiding) several feet 
elevated above high-water level, and show r no indication of the 
water's encroachment. As a storm so violent as the cyclone 
of 1876 was capable of piling the torn-off blocks of the reef- 
floor — composed of a natural concrete of worn coral, shells, 
and the hard parts of pelagic animals, imbedded in a solid 
calcareous matrix — only a few yards over the higher edge of 
the island, it is impossible for the lagoon margins, in some 
places more than 800 yards distant from the sea, to be kept up 
in elevation by the debris of the outer margin ; and the greatest 
storms do not affect perceptibly or permanently the shores of 
the lagoon. 

Mr. Ross informed me that what Mr. Darwin, from the 
undermining of cocoa-nut trees seen by him, supposed to be 
sea encroachments, was intermittently taking place during 



IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 39 



gales round the lagoon shores ; and pointed out to me that 
where, in such places, a portion of the land was washed out, 
the same amount was replaced in some adjacent part of the 
shore. He showed me also on the little islet, named in the 
chart Workhouse Island, a rather exposed corner which had 
been completely washed away with all the trees on it, in the 
cyclone of 1876, but which in January, 1878, had become to a 
great extent replaced. A period going on for half a century 
had elapsed since Mr. Darwin's observations, and the encroach- 
ments of the sea on the land had, in my judgment at least, not 
increased at all ; on the contrary, it struck me that the land 
was gaining on the lagoon. This, too, was Mr. Boss's opinion, 
from a thorough and intelligent knowledge of every part of 
its coast and surface. 

On West Island, in a short time the lagoonlet will be 
entirely converted into dry land. At present it is nearly 
filled up, and remains dry at all ordinary tides except on 
two or three occasions a year, with a pure white chalk-like 
sediment, the detritus of coral-attrition by the waves washed 
in from the outside of the reef, where the sea is always more 
or less turbid ; all along its coast also, as far as its south 
corner, the West Island is gaining ground by the accumu- 
lation of sediment. If subsidence were proceeding, this sedi- 
ment could not rise above high-water level. In the centre 
of Horsburgh Island, which is three-quarters of a mile in 
breadth, the ground exhibits an unbroken solid conglomerate 
surface not composed of the strewn debiis from storms; 
and a lakelet of salt water containing no life, which occurs 
in it, seems to be an old lagoon extremely shallow and nearly 
obliterated. In North Island also, 15 miles distant, as Mr. 
Eoss told me, the lagoon was rapidly filling up ; its entrance 
passage has since our knowledge of it been always barred by 
the reef. In all these islands, in sinking wells down for some 
12 — 20 feet through the solid conglomerate of which all the 
islands are composed, fresh water can be found. The only 
exception is Direction Island, in which no fresh water has been 
discovered, and which is entirely composed, as far as borings 
have been made, of shingle debris such as is found along the 
beach of the seaward margin. 

Between Direction Idand and Workhouse Island I observed 



.JO A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



what seemed to me signs of recent elevation. At ebb tide 
there the water was very shallow and quite warm to the hand, 
and I noticed Ostrmdte, small Tridamze and other shells all 
dead where they grew, doubtless killed by exposure to the sun at 
low tide and by the fresh water during heavy rains. Of these 
tropical downpours, Darwin records one as having taken place 
before bis visit, and Mr. Eoss told me that in 1866, there were 
several months of such continuous rain that the fresh water 
stood for several inches on the surface of the lagoon, causing the 
death of large numbers of fish, and no doubt of corals also. 

Completely surrounding this little islet was a thrown-up 
beach of very white sand, quite different from that I saw 
anywhere else on the atoll, composed entirely of the minute 
shells of molluscs, Echini, and of crabs, with a small proportion 
of coral debris, probably raised by the waves from the seaward 
slope of the barrier, indicating, perhaps, a less abrupt descent 
than lias been supposed. Since its first occupation (by JRoss 
Primus) the lagoon has greatly filled up with coral patches and 
sediment, as he could sail his vessel much farther up towards 
South-east Island than now, and several boat channels cut as 
indicated on the map have become quite obliterated. On the 
east side of the atoll the islets are much smaller than at any 
other part, and this may result if such an untoward circum- 
stance as the irruption of poisoned water, such as I have 
recorded above, were to occur at frequent intervals. It is 
possible also that such a stream might issue frequently, if not 
in great quantity, without being observed. 

I incline to believe, therefore, that the Keeling reef 
foundation has arisen as Murray, Semper and Agassiz have 
suggested ; but that its islets have been the result of the 
combined action of storms and the slow elevation of the vol- 
canically upheaved ocean floor, on which the reef is built.* 

The atoll oilers to the marine biologist a rich mine that 
would take not a few years of working to exhaust ; f to the 

A.p nbstract of an exhaustive resume and discussion by Dr. A. Geikie, 
F.R.S., of the Coral lieef theories will be found in Nature, Nov. 29 and Dec. 6, 
f which the full text has just been published in the Proc. Pfo/s. Soc. 
Edin., vol. viii. (1884). 

f I have elsewhere (Proc. R. G. S., March 1884) directed attention to the 
ndmirable situation of this spot for a Biological and Meteorological Station, 
where it could be kept up at the most trifling cost. 



IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 41 

philosopher and student of human nature not a little to reflect 
on, as to the effect on the colonists of a life so isolated, so apart 
from the active stimulus of rivalry, and the sharp incentives to 
advancement born of public opinion and the intercourse of 
fresh minds, and so distant from the cheering influence of 
the warm sympathies of their fellow men ; yet among whom, 
at least, instead of symptoms of physical, mental or moral 
degeneration — despite the belief of Mr. Dana * that, " notwith- 
standing all the products and all the attractions of a coral 
island, even in its best condition, it is but a miserable place for 
human development, physical, mental or moral,"— he would 
find continuous endeavour, industry and care crowned with 
progress, and lives spent in contented happiness ; to myself 
it had opened a field of study charged in every aspect with 
all that was interesting and very much that was new. 

On the 8th of February Mr. Ross brought me at last the 
inevitable news that the Mabel was again freighted with her 
cargo of nuts and oil, and would sail next day for Batavia, 
coupled, however, with a warm invitation to wait till her next 
return from Batavia, and visit in the meantime the North 
Reelings. Every consideration urged me to accept, but it 
was with liveliest regret that I found it impossible to do so. 
The recollection of its pleasures and its owner's Highland- 
chieftain-like hospitality (born of his blood) will ever make 
the Keeling atoll a memory to dwell on. 

On the 9th we set sail, and falling in a few days later with 
the steadily blowing Monsoon wind we scudded gaily along 
before it, and anchored in Batavia on the 16th, accomplishing 
in a week what it had taken us thirty days to sail over on our 
outward voyage. 

* Dana, ' Corals and Coral Islands,' p. 246. 



12 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



APPENDIX TO PAKT I. 



Note.— J., represents Java; T., Timor; T-L., Timor-laut; Sum., Sumatra; 
T. d'A.. Tristan d'Acunha. The plants obtained by Mr. Darwin were described 
by Rev. J. IS. Hentlow in Ann. Nat. Hist., vol. i. p. 337. 



L-List of the Keeling Atoll Plants. ( Mr . B J^ ve ^ AutiiaT . 

Anonacex. 
Anona reticulata, L. .. .. .. .... — X 

Cruciferx. 
Sinapis juncea, L. Aru. .. .. .. .. .. — X 

Capparidacex. 
Gynaudiopsis, sp. Prob. cultivated. .. .. .. — X 

Malvacex. 

Hibscus tiliaceus, L. T., J., Pacf. Ids. .. .. x X 

Hibiscus Kosa-siuensis, L. Introduced. .. .. — X 

Sida carpiuifolia, L.fil. Madeira. Mauritius. .. — X 

Tiliacex. 
Triumfetta procumbens, Forst. .. .. .. x X 



Leguminosx. 

Acacia farnesiana, W. T. .. .. ., .. x 

Poinciana pulcherrima, L. Introduced .. .. 

Guilandina lionduc, Ait. T. .. .. X 

Eosacex. 

Eriobotrya, sp. Cultivated 

Rosa ceutit'olia, L. Cultivated. .. ., 

Myrtacex. 
Guava, spp. Cultivated. 

Ltjthracex. 
Pciijphis aciduia, Forst. T x 

n . Papayacex. 
( arica papaya, L. 

Crassulacex. 
Bryophjllum calycinum, Salisb. .. .. _ 

roitulacex. 
Portulaca oleracea, Z. T.-L. .. v 

Eubiacex. 
Gui ttarda gpecinea, L. T. 

Morinda citrifolia, L. T •• •• X x 
— X 



IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS 43 



Composite. 

Sonclius oleraceus, L. J., Sum., T. d'A. .... — X 

Apocynaceze. 
Vinca rosea, L. .. . . . . . . . . . . — X 

Ochrosia pur vitlora, Hensl. .. .. .. .. X X 

Goodenovieze. 
Scaevola Koenigii, Valil. T. .. .. .. X X 

Asclepiadiaceze. 
Asclepias curassavica, L. J. . . . . . . — X 

Bignoniaccze. 
Oroxylum indicum, Vent. Cultivated. .... — X 

Boragineze. 
Oordia subcordata, Lam. T., T-L., Austr. .... X X 

Tourneforlia argentea, L. T., W. Ind. .. .. X X 

Solanaceze. 
Pbysalis peruviana, L. .. .. .. .. .. — X 

Acanthacae. 
Dieliptera Burmauni, Nees, var. J., T. .... X X 

Labiatss. 
Leonurus sibiricus, L. .. .. .. .... — X 

Verbenaceze. 
Staebytarpbeta imliea, L. Trop. Asia. .. .. — X 

Nyctaginese. 
Boerhavia diffusa, W , var. )3, var. 7, Hensl. T. .. X 

Fisonia iuurmis \'{), Foist. Australia. .. .. X 

Amaranthacese. 

Achyrantbes argentea. Lam , var. villosior. T. .. X 

Urticaceze. 
Urera Gaudichaudiana, Hensl. .. .. .. •• X X 

Euphorbiacese. 
Kicinus communis, L. Cultivated. .. .... — X 

Aleurites Moluccaua, W. (A. S. Keating.) 

Gramineze. 

Pauicum sanguinale, Lin. var. T. .. .. .• X 

Stenotapbrum lepturoide, Hensl. .. .. •• X 

Lepturus repens, Forst. T. .. .. •• •• x 

Eragrostis amabilis, L. T. .. •• •• •• — 

Fimbristylis glomeratus, Nees. .. •■ •• •• 

Palmacese. 
Cocos nucifera, L., var. Bali. (A S. Keating.) .. X 

Pandanacese. 
Pandanus, sp. (Holman.) 

Musci. 
Hypnum rufescens, Hook. 

Fungi. 
Polyporus lurblus .. •■ •• •• •■ x 



44 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



II.— List <■/' the Birds of the Keeling Islands. 

Ploceus .l.ypoxantluis, migrant, nesting in North and South Keeling. 

Ida orizivora, in captivity. 
Gallns bangMva, introduced. 
Herodias nigripea, nesting on the Pisonia trees. 
Demisretta eaera, nesting on the Pisoma trees. 

Nyctkorax caledonicus. Here found for the first time west of Timor. 
Totanus eanescens, migrant. 
Bcolopax niBticola, miptiant. 
Ballus philippensis; found in great ahur.dar.ee ; brings up domestic clucks, 

when her own eggs Lave been changed for those ot to wis or ducks. 
Anas sp., migrant. 
Anous stolidus. 
Bala pisoatriz. 
Tachypetea minor. 
Phaeton candidus. 
Gygis Candida. 

III.— List (/Corals collected in the Keeling Islands. Determined by 
S. 0. Ridley, M.A., F.L.S., and J. J. Quelch, B.Sc. 

JJyd.rocoraV.inse. 

Milkpora verrucosa. Mil -Ed. <fc Hitime. Outside the reef, 
forskali, Mil-Ed. & Haime. Iuside the reef. 
Madreporaria. 

Madrepora scandens, Klaz. 

orbipora, Dana var. Inside the reef. 
Anacropora, Ridley, characterised as follows :— * 

ANACROPORA.f 

Mad repori else of ramose habit. Axis and apes of branches formed by 
a spongy ccenenchyma. New calicles formed centripetally, i.e. from the 
base towards the apex; no calicle of any kind at the apex. Calicles 
equally distributed all round stem and branches, with a tendency to an 
arrangement in longitudinal series. Septal system well developed, com- 
prising two cycles of six septa each, two (approximately upper and lower) 
primaries being larger than the four lateral primaries. 

Obs. — Anacropora is based on the new species A. forbesi, described 
below, and on some forms which occur in the Challenger collection of 
reef-corals, to be hereafter described by Mr. J. J. Quelch, of the Natural- 
History Museum ; I have had the advantage of Prof. Duncan's and Mr. 
Quelch's opinions on this important form, opinions which have been freely 
and kindly given. The general growth and other characters given above 
are essentially the same in all the species. In all the growth is low, the 
branches tending to form inosculations between each other; the stem and 
branches are cylindrical, and no distinct tubular calicles are formed. 

From Madrepora this genus differs markedly in the centripetal 
production of the calicles, by which the youngest calicles are always the 
uppermost. From the subgenus Isopora, Stvdtr (see loc. inf. cit.), it differs 
in the same point, as well as in its slender dendroid growth; but the first 
distinction is not so marked at first sight, since the peculiar growth of 
Isopora almost necessitates the absence of a distinct apical calicle, but (as 

eti A from Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., April 1S81, p. 235, pi. si. 
t From ar, privative particle, &koos, summit, i?6pos, passage or pore ; in allusion 
to the absence of pores from the ends of the branches. 



IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 45 

stated loc. cit) the mode of gemmation is centrifugal in Isopora, as in 
Madrepora, s. str. Other points distinguishing Anacropora from most 
species of Madrepora are the formation of the axis of the brandies by a 
spongy ccenenchyma, whereas in many (if not all) Madrepore this, in 
accordance with the centrifugal habit of budding, is occupied to a greater 
or less distance from the ends of the branches by the downward prolon- 
gations of the septa and the interseptal spaces of the apical calicle. The 
rudimentary condition of the external part of the calicle distinguishes 
Anacropora; for although it is commonly found (I refer to the sunk 
calicles occurring in so many species between the prolonged tubular or 
nariform ones) in some, it is never, so far as my knowledge extends, found 
in all the calicles in any Madrepora. 

Although in its general appearance it differs remarkably from even 
the branched species of Montipora, yet the structural differences which 
separate Anacropora from this genus are very far less distinctive than 
those which separate it from Madrepora. In the first place, in spite of 
its external resemblance to Madrepora, it has the same system of calicular 
budding (viz. centripetal, from the distal ccenenchyma) which we find 
well developed in the ramose Montipora ; the trabecular structure and the 
two-cycled arrangement of the septa is the same in both genera. On the 
other hand, whereas in Anacropora there is always an undifferentiated 
ccenenchymal apex, devoid of calicle?, to the branches, in Montipora this 
apex appears always to bear at least one calicle on its surface. In Anacro- 
pora the calicles are always rather distant and tend to form lines, and are 
slightly raised above the surface, forming low hill-like eminences, whereas 
in the ramose Montipora (e.g. digitata, Barm, divaricata and superficialis, 
Brilggemann), which on the whole most closely approach Anacropora, the 
calicles open flush with the surface, are crowded indiscriminately, and no 
linear arrangement is apparent. In Montipora foliosa, it is true, the 
calicles, especially on the posterior aspect of the corallum, are elevated in 
a similar manner; but the foliate growth and the monticular inter-cali- 
cular eminences of the upper surface seem to remove this species far from 
the ramose Montipora?. Jt seems to me not improbable that, for the 
reasons I have indicated, these ramose forms may have to be separated 
from the foliate and massive sjiecies of Montipora. 

The relations of Anacropora may be thus shortly stated : — Anacropora 
has the general growth of Madrepora, but the manner of budding of 
Montipora. 

The following is a description of the single species referable to this 
genus which I am able to describe; owing to the interest attaching to the 
type, I have allowed myself to give its characters at full length : — 

ANACEOrORA forbesi, Ridley. 

Corallum branching frequently, dichotomously, occasionally subtri- 
chotomously ; branches given off in succession in a subspiral manner, 
the planes of successive bifurcations varying from about 30° to 100° with 
regard to each other ; angle between branches composing bifurcation 80° 
to 100°. Stem and branches slightly curved, the apical branches more 
strongly so, cylindrical, except the terminal branches, which tend to curve 
outwards and taper gradually to points ; diameter, main axes 6-7 millim., 
intermediate and terminal branches about 4 millim., greatest length 
between bifurcations of main branches about 30 millim., terminal twigs 
25 millim. long. Calicles arranged more or less definitely, for the most 
part in series which follow approximately the longitudinal axis of the 
stem and branches, the calicles of one series alternating with, those of the 

5 



4G A s Arm A LIST'S WANDERINGS 



;lilj:l . series about -J millim. apart, calices about 2 to 2 5 

■ lim aparl ,„ the series. Cdicle* forming, everywhere but on the tips 
3 {ie branches, low rounded elevations, by the gradual rising of the 
surface towards their inferior margins to a height of -2o to ;7 millim., 
i mil occasionally by the similar but very slight elevation of their superior 
mareinfi Calicles orbicular, looking upwards; orifice of adult cahcles 
•5 to /millim in diameter ; on the tips of the branches they open on 
t .„. [ eve ] f the surface of the corallum, are more or less imperfectly 
denned from the surrounding loose ccenenchyma, and measure about %i 
to .4 millim in diameter. Septa trabecular, consisting of vertical series 
of horizontal pointed projections from the wall of the cabcle, begmningjust 
Iwlow its margin, distinct, Primaries about "23 millim. m length m full- 
grown calicles, comprising two main, opposite ones, variously placed (t.e. 
from par did to the long axis to at an angle of 45° with the same), which 
converge towards the bottom of the calicle, where they meet and form a 
vertical plate; the other primaries are slightly smaller and do not meet 
bel( »w Secondaries varying from about half the diameter of primaries to 
mere points on the side of the calicle ; the secondary septum between the 
two lateral primaries is sometimes wanting. 

-Corallum slightly vermiculate, always covered by minute points at 
surface (at apex looser, very porous) ; the outer one-quarter of diameter 
(except at apex, formed of a denser tissue, in which the calcareous 
trabecules exceed in diameter the spaces between them; the central one- 
half of the diameter {viz. usually about 2 millim.), consisting of a loose 
tissue, in which the calcareous bars are only about half the diameter 
of the intervening spaces ; the meshes of this tissue (as seen in transverse 
section of a branch) elongate towards margin, smaller and relatively 
shorter at centre. Apices of branches, to a distance of from 2-8 millim. 
from the ends, formed of the looser axial ccenenchyma, and carrying 
more or less rudimentary calicles, which are at least 1 millim. from all 
other calicles in the same longitudinal series. 

Eab. Keeling Islands, Indian Ocean; deeper water inside reef. 

Represented by a single colony and a detached branch, which has 
lived independently after its fracture from the parent specimen.* 
They were collected and presented to the British Museum by Mr. H. 0. 
Forbes, F.Z.S. &c, w r ho has already (Proc. Boy. (Jeogr. Soc, Dec. 1879) 
described these islands, and with whose name I have much pleasure in 
associating this new type. The chief colony measures 83 millim. (3± 
inches) in height, 100 millim. (4 inches) in greatest breadth, and 55 millim. 
(2} inches) from front to back; the detached branch, which bifurcates 
three times, was about 60 millim. long when alive. Parts of the corallum, 
owing either to an evanescent pigment or to traces of animal matter, 1 ave 
a most delicate pink tint. 

Si line interesting points are brought out by the detached branch; this 
occurs unrooted, but obviously had been broken off from the colony 
while yet alive, and lived subsequently free. As commonly happens in 
such eas,s, the fractured surface has healed over; but in this case the 
new material is not a continuation of the superficial ccenenchyma of the 
adjacent side over the stump, but the prolongation outwards of the loose 
central ccenenchyma which has developed on itself five or six young 
calicles. Eere also the law of centripetal gemmation asserts itself, these 
calicles occurring on the sides of a central cone of loose ccenenchyma, of 

Moseleys 'Notes by a naturalist on Challenger.'' "Some specimens 
Ilia (Pontes) species were unattached, though living, being in the form of 
rounded masses, entirely covered with living polyps . . . and I suppose from 
time to thro? rolled over by the waves": p. Sit. [k. 0. F.] 



IN THE C0C0S-KEEL1NG ISLANDS. 47 



which the apex, 1 millim. long, is undifferentiated and bears no calicles. 
The same law is followed in the process of repair exhibited by a broken 
stump of a branch on the larger specimen. The wide angle of bifurcation 
of the branches causes the colony to assume a low decumbent form, and 
bringing, as it does, neighbouring branches into juxtaposition, gives' rise 
\o anastomoses ; the branching in various planes gives it a broad lop. 

Echinopora lamellosn, Esp. 

Montipora digitatn, Dana. Inside the reef. 

sp. near expansa, Dana. 
Pontes lrevis, Dana. (?) Outside the reef. 
Pavonia lata, Dana. Inside the reef. 
Pocillopora brevicornis, Lam. Inside the reef. 
elegan3 (?) Dana. Outside the re6f. 



PART II. 



IN JAVA. 



CHAPTEE I. 

SOJOURN AT GENTENG IN BANTAM. 

On the road — The Sutidanese language — Every man a naturalist — Bird-life at 
Genteng — Weaver-birds' nests — A native rural bazaar — Forest devastation 
— Geological structure of the district — A wonderful case of mimicry in a 
spider. 

On my return to Java from the Keeling Islands, I had the 
good fortune to meet in Batavia with a countryman, Mr. 
Alexander Eraser, one of the few freeholders of land in Java, 
who though just starting for England, kindly offered me the 
privilege of collecting over his vast property situated in the 
western province of Bantam, and the hospitality of his house if I 
should choose to stay there. This offer I was only too pleased 
to accept, in order, while still within reach of civilisation, to 
become acquainted with, and gain some practical experience 
of, the necessities and modes of tropical life and camping, of 
which the novitiate traveller has such crude ideas — for collect- 
ing among tropical vegetation is very different from the ideas 
formed of it from like operations conducted amidst the sparse 
woods of our temperate climate ; — but principally to isolate 
myself from all European-speaking people for the purpose of 
acquiring, with the aid of a few books and chiefly with my 
native servants, the Malay language as rapidly as possible. 
In addition, the late Dr. Scheffer, the kind Director of the 
Botanical Gardens in Buitenzorg, had recommended to me 
Bantam as a profitable and by no means, botanically at least, 
well investigated province to visit. 

Having hired a couple of cahars — a sort of spring-cart with 
one horse, the general mode of conveyance when one travels as 
I was about to do, off the main roads, — one for myself and one 
for my baggage, I left Batavia at sunrise on the 12th of March, 
by the western road along the low northern shore lands towards 



52 A NATURALISTS WANDERINGS 



Rangkas-betong, by the famous highway which Dandels, one 
of the mosl energetic and far-seeing of all the early Governors- 
Genera] of the Dutch Indies, constructed along the whole 
length of the island, and which has proved one of its greatest 
benefits and colonizers. To expedite the journeys of their 
various officials round their districts, at every five or six miles 
Btable stations have been erected by the Government, where 
horses are changed, and which private travellers can obtain 
permission to make use of on payment of small mileage dues. 

All along the road we passed little sign-posts with Arabic 
inscriptions indicating how many yards of the road on each side 
of them must be kept in repair by the various neighbouring 
villages. As the keeping of the roads is most strenuously 
enforced, they are never out of condition, and are a pleasure to 
drive over. Here and there it has been impossible to bridge 
the larger rivers in steep defiles where the stream is deep and 
swift, and these are crossed in large picturesque rafts which 
can accommodate horse and carriage and quite a little crowd 
of people at once. These rafts, by sliding on rattan rings 
along two strong cables of thick rattan canes securely fixed to 
both banks, are floated over by the ferrymen by hand-over- 
hand traction on these cables. 

When on the road the dress of the Sundanese, especially of 
the women and children, is invariably bright coloured calicoes, 
clran and newly ironed, and their head-covering is the gaily 
lacquered bamboo hats for whose manufacture they are famous. 
The burdens of the men, whatever they may consist of, are 
made up in neat and tastefully arranged bundles, carried 
always on the shoulders, suspended at the ends of a bamboo — 
and it is amazing what a weight these thick-set stout fellows 
can carry in this way. Such a ferry, in the sunlight, with a 
background of green, wooded slopes, presents therefore always 
a gay scene and forms quite an interesting break in the drive. 

The country throughout was rather tame, being quite stripped 
of forest, but full of interest, as the land, being entirely under 
rice cultivation, was laid out in the most beautiful system of 
terraces. The province of Bantam is densely populated, and 
scarcely a portion of uncultivated land was to be observed. 
As Mr. Wallace in his 'Malay Archipelago,' has fully 
described, this method, introduced by the Hindus on their 



IN JAVA. 53 

invasion of Java, has attained a wonderful development 
throughout the whole of the lowlands in the western part of 
the island. In these sawahs, as the natives call their wet rice 
fields, the grain is cultivated in small square borders separated 
by green, grass-ridged banks, kept constantly flooded with 
water brought by a wonderful network of channels in which 
an intricate system of sluices or valves distributes or cuts 
off its flow wherever desired. The entire face of such low 
hills as have a gentle slope, are thus laid out down to their 
bases, and at the season when the young corn is in its fresh 
green leaf the country is extremely pretty. 

Mr. Fraser's estate-house at Tjikandi-Udik, which I reached 
late in the evening, I found to stand amid a rich and entirely 
cultivated country, but as regards my pursuits a barren terri- 
tory. After enjoying for a few days the hospitality of the 
Administrator I moved south-westward to Genteng in the 
higher region of Lebak, where I was told some forest was then 
being felled. 

Here I built a bamboo-hut in an open spot with an exhila- 
rating look-out on the high mountains, and alone with my 
Malay boys began my initiation into the language of the 
country, and into the nomadic joyous life of a field naturalist. 
It is a life full of tiresome shifts, discomforts, and short 
commons ; but these are completely forgotten, and the days 
seem never long enough amid that constant flash of delighted 
surprise that accompanies the beholding for the first time 
of beast or bird or thing unknown before, and the throb of 
pleasure experienced, as each new morsel of knowledge amal- 
gamates with one's self. 

Between myself and my boya for a time the most ludicrously 
comprehended sign-language was carried on, till their speech, 
whose sentences to my unaccustomed ears seemed composed of 
but one continuous word of innumerable uncouth syllables, 
began to shape itself into distinguishable elements, when to 
my amazement, as if some obstruction had been suddenly re- 
moved from my ears, I comprehended them as if I had been 
brought up among them. Before many weeks were over I 
could converse in the Malay tongue with an amount of freedom 
that surprised me. 

The language of the district, that is, of the Sundanese them- 



.1 NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

selves, thougb containing many Javanese and Malay words, is 
quite distincl from either. It is a coarser and rougher speech, 
and it was some time before I managed to acquire it; but I 
found it to be— like broad Scotch in comparison with pure 
English one of great expressiveness. 

A.a soon as 1 was aide to follow their discourse with ease, 
in ,- daily talks with these men were a source of great pleasure 
to me. I so.-n found out that in regard to every thing around 
them, they were marvellously observant and intelligent. Not 
one or two only, but every individual amongst them seemed 
equally stored with natural history information. There was 
ii< »t a single tree or plant or minute shrub, but they had a name 
for, and could tell the full history of; and not a note in the 
forest but they knew from what throat it proceeded. Every 
animal had a designation, not a mere meaningless designation, 
but a truly binomial appellation as fixed and distinctive as in 
our own system, differing only in the fact that their's was in 
their own and not in a foreign language. Often enough this 
designation has so close a resemblance and sound to Latin, 
that it has been accepted by Western naturalists as if it had 
been so. One of the liveliest and most obtrusive of the squirrels 
in Java and Sumatra is a little red-furred creature called by 
the natives tupai, and to distinguish it from its more arboreal 
congeners they add, from its habit of frequenting branches 
mar the ground, the word tana (for earth); and Tupaia tana 
is its accepted scientific term among European naturalists. 

They have unconsciously classified the various allied groups 
into large comprehensive genera, in a way that shows an ac- 
curacy of observation that is astonishing from this dull- 
looking race. In this respect they excel far and away the 
rural population of our own country, among whom without ex- 
it ion scarcely one man in a hundred is able to name one 
tree from another, or describe the colour of its flower or fruit, 
far less to name a tree from a portion indiscriminately shown 
him. How acute is their observation is exemplified by their 
name for the groups of true parasitic plants of the Loranthacete 
(or Misletoes), which are disseminated chiefly by being unob- 
trusively dropped by birds in convenient clefts of trees, 
they denominate as Tai looroong ("birds' excreta"); while to 
epiphytic plants they give a name that has almost the sijmi- 



IN JAVA. 55 

ficance of our own scientific term. The great group of the 
Laurels, which so vary in flower and foliage as to be separated 
off into many genera by botanists., are all designated by the one 
name Hum, but they are differentiated by no fewer than sixty- 
three different specific terms, in every instance indicating 
some prominent distinguishing characteristic of flower, fruit or 
timber ; and on examination, very few indeed of them turn out 
not to belong to the Laurel family. Of oaks, Passang in their 
tongue, they discriminate sixteen different species, commencing 
their list with the one they consider most typical, just as we find 
in our own catalogues of birds, among the Warblers for instance, 
Cisticola cisticola representing the typical speeias, the Sunda- 
nese say Passang betid, or " true oak," for what they consider 
the oak of oaks. Among animals their system of classification 
into genera is not carried so far ; but all the more distinctive 
groups, especially those living in communities, and every 
insect and bird, if in any way peculiar or where it can be mis- 
taken for another, have each their own binomial appellation. 

I was disappointed in finding that the forest about Genteng 
was nearly all second growth, with scarcely any of what I was 
principally in search of for my herbarium — specimens of the 
primal trees. Birds, however, were more plentiful, and in the 
avenue-like roads and paths, stretching for miles in the neigh- 
bourhood, butterflies and other insects were very abundant, 
but though interesting to me, and occasionally new to the 
ornithology or entomology of the Malayan region, most of 
them were species well known to science. Amid an expanse 
of low scrub in front of my door, on which the buffaloes from 
the neighbouring villages wandered more at their own will 
than directed by their young herds, stood within gunshot of 
my verandah table several tall trees, from which, frequented as 
they were at all hours of the day by different kinds of birds, I 
was constantly able to add with great ease to my collection, 
and to observe the habits of many species that it would have 
been difficult otherwise to see. 

I never tired of watching the friendly relation between the 
Buffalo-birds (Stumopastor ialla and S. melanopterus) and 
their bovine hosts. They used to collect in impatient flocks 
about the hour of the return of the herd to their feeding 
grounds from the wallowing holes, whither in the heat of the 



56 A NATURALIST'S WANDEEINGS 



day thev retired : and as soon as the cattle arrived they 
would alight on their backs in crowds, to the evident satis- 
faction of the oxen, which they relieved of troublesome parasites. 
Although the herd-boys commonly lay dozing at full length 
on the buffaloes' backs, the birds seemed to know that they 
were quite safe, and would even alight on the bare backs 
of the sleepers, and from that hop on to the haunches of the 
quadruped ; and when the herds were driven away at nightfall 
the Sturnopastors flew off to the forest. 

One of the rarer birds obtained here was the fine red- 
crested Woodpecker (Miglyptes tristis), which much resembles 
the M. gramminithorax of Malherbe, which is not found in 
Java, while the former, distinguished by its uniform black 
breast and abdomen, is confined to this island.* In the 
gloaming, frequenting leafless branches, I often saw the 
minute Butterfly Hawk (Microhierax fringillarius), not so 
large as a shrike, darting after grasshoppers, moths and late- 
flying butterflies. Among the songsters that made them- 
selves more noticeable by frequenting the isolated trees near 
my house, were the golden Oriole (Oriolus maculatus) and 
the yellow crowned Bulbul (Trachycomus oclirocephalus), 
which late in the evenings filled the whole neighbourhood 
with their melodious, clear, bell-like notes ; while two members 
of the Cuckoo family, the " Doodoot " (RJiinococcyx ciirvirostris) 
and the " Boot : ' (R. javanensis) used to utter their curious 
bleating call in the low jungle behind, often breaking with their 
weird modulations the stillness of the midnight. In a neigh- 
bouring clump of canes a colony of Yellow Weaver-birds 
(Ploceus hypoxanthus) had thickly hung their nests. Each nest 
was artfully suspended between the interlacing leaf-stems of one 
or two reeds in a most skilful way, to secure as much as possible 
the safety of their eggs during the waving of the reeds in the 
wind. These nests were not made fast to, but strung lightly 
on the leaves, sometimes passed through the fork of another 
leaf to form a pulley, so as to permit, by sliding along in the 
swaying of the grass, of their retaining their vertical position, 
which they must do, weighted as they are by a layer of clay in 
the bottom of the nests. I noticed that many of them were 

* Cf. Hargitt, ' Ibis,' 1884, pp. 190, 191 ; and Nicholson, op. tit., 1879, 16. 



IN JAVA. 



57 



deserted from the breaking of one or more of their eo-o-s, after 
incubation had progressed some way ; in others, where there 
was only one chick, there was often one egg which had been 
cracked and become dried up, so that even with all their 
acute architectural devices the wind appears to wreck the 
hopes of the little builders. 

What can be the use of the mud in the Weaver-birds' nests 
has often been discussed. Mr. E. L. Layard, the accurate 





TWO FORMS OF THE NEST OF THE WEAVER BIRD. 



observer and well-known ornithologist, has suggested * " that 
these lumps of mud were used as scrapers on which to clean 
the birds' bills "; but if in the nests I found here they were 
used for this purpose, it must have been only at the commence- 
ment of their task, for the layer of mud would be quite con- 
cealed at an early stage of their nest-building. I am more 
inclined to the belief that they are to weight and balance 
the nest, from having found loose among the lower stems 
unfinished portions, which were evidently the foundations of 
* Nature, Dec. 1879. 



58 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 




nests, which had been blown clown before being properly 
secured, or were they, perhaps, abandoned unsuccessful first 
attempts ? They had the exact shape of tiny key baskets, such 
as arc used by housewives, one end being weighted with a layer 
of clay. I was also struck by the fact that different indi- 
viduals had adopted different forms of nests, which, though 
agreeing fundamentally, exhibited considerable variation. 

The bulk of them were of the 
retort shape, set with a long- 
necked orifice hanging down- 
ward, but a considerable number, 
of the progressionist party per- 
haps, had inaugurated a new 
™^™„. m .^ fashion bv inverting the retort 

ABANDONED NEST-FOCXDATION. J © 

and shortening the neck, giving 
the doorway an upward and forward entrance, which, if more 
enticing to depredators, may perhaps be less awkward to 
the owners. I much regret that I have' no note as to the 
position of the clay in this new form ; for what was previously 
the bottom of the nest had become a dome over the bird, while 
its eggs were laid in what would correspond in the older pattern 
with the upper curve of the neck of the retort, so that if my 
belief is correct that the use of the clay is to retain the nest 
in its vertical position, it ought to be found occupying a 
corresponding site in the new structure. It is possible, however, 
that the deviation from the ancestral pattern may result from 
an unequal distribution of clay during the laying of the 
foundation of the nest, causing it to become reversed without 
diverting the bird's purpose from completing its work as best 
it could, under the altered conditions. 

One of the bird- cries that early attract attention is 
the reiterated, unvaried call of the Bell-birds (MegoHseminss), 
poured forth in long stretches from the top of some high 
tree, where, from their plumage according so well with 
the varied colours of the vegetation, they can select a perch 
even in a prominent branch without fear of discovery. I 
obtained five different species of these birds, which belong to 
one of the most varied and beautiful-plumaged families, and of 
which some idea may be obtained by turning over the pages of 
Marshall's splendid monograph of the group. 



IN JAVA. 59 

A stream which ran near my house was crossed by one of 
those native-made bamboo bridges, which spaciously housed 
and thatched over, have such a neat and attractive look about 
them. Every Sunday morning the district market was held 
under it, which from an early hour presented quite a gay and 
busy scene. I never missed, if I could, an opportunity of 
visiting these Passars, as 1 found them delightful resorts for 
studying the native in his gayer moods ; for market-day was 
always their holiday, and the market-place the rendezvous for 
the youths and maidens of the district, as well as the news- 
exchange of the old men. The vendors, to be early at the 
market-place, generally spent Saturday evening and night 
under the shade of the bridge, or collected in the neighbouring 
village, whence the tinkle of the gamelang, their characteristic 
musical instrument, would be heard throughout the livelong 
night in company, if not concord, with the higher notes of their 
curiously drawling voices, repeating tjeritas or semi-historical 
tales, and adaptations from the Koran, varied by pantuns or 
love songs. 

The collection of wares exposed for barter was always a 
curious one : sarongs from their own looms — whose incessant 
click-clack is one of the most pleasant and characteristic of the 
industrial sounds in their villages — calicoes and silk kerchiefs 
from Manchester and Liverpool ; Clark's Paisley thread of 
"extra quality"; native-made horn combs, gay ornaments of 
spangles and beads, and the elaborate inlaid silver breast-pins 
for which the district is famous, worn by every female to fasten 
her loose upper robes ; and bamboo hats in great variety. The 
Bantamese are specially noted for the manufacture of these last, 
and some of them are really exquisite specimens of plaiting. 
In the finest quality, made of carefully prepared narrow strips 
of the wood, a quiet but lucrative trade is done with European 
markets by unobtrusive go-betweens who collect them through 
the district. In Bantam they cost a mere trifle, but in Paris, 
I am informed, they are retailed at a profit of nearly one thou- 
sand per cent., as true Panama hats, from which it is difficult 
to distinguish them. One of these hats, that I treated to the 
roughest jungle work of three years, was scarcely impaired 
when we parted company. 

Other than these the chief articles were household utensils, 



60 A NATURALISTS WANDERINGS 



large copper jars for the preparation of rice, beat out of sneet 
copper by native smiths, and shallow iron basms (of Singapore 
make) for the daily extraction of the oil of the cocoa-nut 
palm without which and its twin brother the bamboo, native 
prosperity and happiness would cease. There were besides 
piles of various species of dry-salted river fishes, chiefly Gabus 
(Ophiocephalus striatus), Soro and Eegis (Barbus duronensis 
and B. emarginatus), and Gurame (Ophromenus olfax), the 
most prized of them all, in which a large and profitable trade 
is carried on with distant parts of the Archipelago. Many of 
lishes are carefully preserved in the larger wet rice fields, 
where during the rainy season, having abundance of food, they 
multiply with great rapidity. During the hot season, when 
the sawahs have become, except in the centre, dry fields, the 
fishes are captured in immense numbers. Fried in fresh oil 
t Lev form an excellent dish, and are the staple flesh-food of 
the natives. 

A vile odour which permeates the whole air within a wide 
area of the market-place, is apt to be attributed to these piles 
of fish ; but it really proceeds from another compound sold in 
round black balls, called trassi. My acquaintance with it was 
among my earliest experiences of house-keeping at Genteng. 
Having got up rather late one Sunday morning — an opportu- 
nity taken by one of my boys to go unknown to me to the 
market, which I had not then visited — I was discomfited by 
the terrific and unwonted odour of decomposition : — " My 
birds have begun to stink, confound it ! " I exclaimed to 
myself. Hastily fetching down the box in which they were 
stored, 1 minutely examined and sniffed over every skin, 
giving myself in the process inflammation of the nostrils and 
eyes for a week after, from the amount of arsenical soap I 
inhaled ; but all of them seemed in perfect condition. In the 
neighbouring jungle, though I diligently searched half the 
morning, I could find no dead carcase, and nothing in the 
'• kitchen-midden," where somehow I seemed nearer the source ; 
but at last in the kitchen itself I ran it to ground in a compact 
parcel done up in a banana leaf. 

" What on the face of creation is this? " I said to the cook, 
touching it gingerly. 

" Oh ! master, that is trassi." 



IN JAVA. 61 

" Trassi ? What is trassi, in the name of goodness ! " 

"Good for eating, master ; — in stew." 

" Have I been eating it ? " 

" Certainly, master ; it is most excellent (enak sekali)." 

" You born fool ! Do you wish to poison me and to die 
yourself? " 

' : May I have a goitre (claih gondok), master, but it is excel- 
lent ! " he asseverated, taking hold of the foreskin of his throat, 
by the same token that a countryman at home would swear, 
" As sure's Death ! " 

Notwithstanding these vehement assurances, I made it dis- 
appear in the depths of the jungle, to the horror of the bov, 
who looked wistfully after it, and would have fetched it back, 
had I not threatened him with the direst penalties if I dis- 
covered any such putridity in my house again. I had then to 
learn that in every dish, native or European, that I had eaten 
since my arrival in the East, this Extract of Decomposition 
was mixed as a spice, and it would have been difficult to 
convince myself that I would come by-and-bye knowingly to 
eat it daily without the slightest abhorrence. Dampier, who 
mentions it in his ' Voyage,' seems to have formed his acquaint- 
ance with it in a more philosophic spirit, for he describes it in 
thesa terms : — " As a composition of a strong savour, yet a 
very delightsom dish to the natives. To make it they throw 
a mixture of shrimps and small fish into a sort of weak pickle 
made with salt and water, and put into a tight earthen vessel. 
The pickle being thus weak, it keeps not the fish firm and 
hard, neither is it probably so designed, for the fish are never 
gutted. Therefore in a short time they turn all to a mash in 
the vessel ; and when they have lain thus a good while so that 
the fish is reduced to pulp, they then draw off the liquor into 
fresh jars and preserve it for use. The masht fish that remains 
behind is called Trassi. 'Tis rank scented ; yet the taste is 
not altogether unpleasant, but rather savoury after one is a 
little used to it." 

One of the most terrible scourges of the island, and for which 
no remedy seems possible, is the spread everywhere of a species 
of tall, slender cane — useless for fodder and good only for thatch, 
— which the natives call alang-alang. Every spot unoccupied 
by forest, falls a prey to it ; and when once it gets the upper 
G 



G2 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



hand, forest seeds refuse to root in it. Neither the incessant 
rains, nor the driest droughts of summer kill it. The fire may 

sweeu the surface hare, but it fails to touch the roots, which 
Bpring again in fresher vigour through the ashes. Deep shade 
alone seems to chock its growth. The native in the hill 
regions does not make sawahs (which are good from year to 
year), hut constantly takes in his fields by felling, where he 
lists, in the unbroken forest. As, after reaping for only two 
seasons this new land, (on which he scatters his seed between the 
fallen trunks), he deserts it for a newer patch, broad tracts of 
the island are every year becoming covered with this ineradi- 
cable exhauster of the soil, and by-and-bye the virgin forests 
of this country will have entirely ceased, if some sharper 
supervision be not exercised by the Government over the 
timber-felling mania of the native. As Colonel Beddonie 
remarks of the like devastation in India : " the value of the 
timber thus destroyed by one man, calculating it by the 
number of logs it might have yielded, is at least twenty times 
as great as the value of the crop of ragi obtained in the 
two years that cultivation is continued. The low jungle 
which comes up after desertion of humari land is more 
injurious to health than lofty forest open below. Besides 
health considerations and decrease of rain and moisture, this 
rude system of culture [results in] the destruction of valuable 
timber .... and rendering of land unfit for coffee." 

The present vegetation of the whole of this portion of the 
island stands on an unbroken layer of volcanic mud, which tells 
of a period of almost unparalleled volcanic activity. Wherever 
the streams have opened sections, or a road cutting has 
been made, numbers of great trees, some of them thirty yards 
in length, are exposed in a completely silicified condition, and 
often so perfectly as to have preserved to their cores the 
structure of their tissues. Standing on some one of these bare 
denuding slopes, I have tried to picture to myself the terrible 
outburst in which this region must have been overwhelmed, at 
a date which cannot geologically have been very remote ; for 
lying prostrate in great numbers as they were,— many of them 
1 laving fallen across each other,— the forest of which they 
formed a part must have been suddenly entombed beneath an 
avalanche of the petrifying mud so deep that the powerfully 



IN JAVA. Go 

corroding tropical rains of centuries are only now beginning to 
exhume them. 

About the only piece of exposed strata in this part of Java, 
I believe, lay within a few miles of my hut. Out of it I picked 
fossil fragments of vegetable stems, and of broken Ostrsea 
and Pecten shells, closely resembling those still in the adjacent 
seas, and showing that an elevation of some 200 to 300 feet had 
taken place here at a recent period. That these subterranean 
forces whose activity resulted in the varied physical changes 
which West Java has experienced (such as the subsidence of 
the Sunda Straits), had not ceased, was brought home to me 
with all the vivid and indescribable sensations that accompany 
one's first experience of powerful and unwonted phenomena. 

On the 28th of March, 1879, about eight o'clock in the even- 
ing, while sitting under my verandah, a sudden shiver and 
a violent bumping wave passed as it were through me and 
under my feet, bewildering me, but affording me the ineradicable 
experience of a violent earthquake. For some thirty seconds 
my hut and all its contents were lustily shaken, but otherwise 
no harm was done. Some forty miles away, however, at the 
base of the Gede volcano, the village of Tjanjoor was wrecked 
and several lives lost amid the falling houses, while on the 
following day volumes of smoke and ashes were emitted by the 
mountain whose summit formed the background of my view. 

One of my most interesting discoveries here was a case of 
mimicry in a spider, of the kind named alluring coloration by 
Mr. Wallace. The spider itself, to which I had given the 
provisional name of Thomisus decipiens, has proved interesting 
as the type of a new genus, named Ornithcscatoides by the 
Be v. 0. P. Cambridge. The great interest attaching to this 
find, however, is on account of its habits. I had been allured 
into a vain chase after one of those large, stately flitting 
butterflies (Hestia) through a thicket of prickly Pandanus 
horridus, to the detriment of my apparel and the loss of my 
temper, when on the bush tbat obstructed my farther pursuit 
I observed one of the Hesptriidte at rest on a leaf on a bird's 
dropping. I had often observed small Blues at rest on similar 
spots on the ground, and have often wondered what the members 
of such a refined and beautifully painted family as the Lycm- 
nidse could find to enjoy at food seemingly so incongruous for 



G4 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



a butterfly. I approached with gentle steps but ready net to 
Bee if possible how the present species was engaged. It per- 
mit t<-« I me to get quite close and even to seize it between my 
finders ; to my surprise, however, part of the body remained be- 
hind, and in adhering as I thought to the excreta, it recalled to 
my mind an observation of Mr. Wallace's on certain Coleoptera 
felling a prey to their inexperience by boring in the bark of 
trees in whose exuding gum they became unwittingly entombed. 
I looked closely at, and finally touched with the tip of my 




A ElED'S EXCRETA-UIMICKING SEEDER. 

finger, the excreta to find if it were glutinous. To my delighted 
astonishment I found that my eyes had been most perfectly 
deceived, and that the excreta was a most artfully coloured 
spider lying on its back, with its feet crossed over and closely 
ad pressed to its body. 

The appearance of the excreta rather recently left on a leaf 
by a bird or a lizard is well known. Its central and denser 
portion is of a pure white chalk-like colour, streaked here and 
there with black, and surrounded by a thin border of the dried- 
up more fluid part, which, as the leaf is rarely horizontal, often 
runs tbr a little way towards the margin. The spider, which 
belongs to a family, the Thomisidte, possessing rather tubsrcu- 



IN JAVA, 65 

lated, thick, and prominent abdomened bodies, is of a general 
white colour; the underside, which is the one exposed, is pure 
chalk white, while the lower portions of its first and second 
pair of legs and a spot on the head and on the abdomen are jet 
black. 

This species does not weave a web of the ordinary kind, but 
constructs on the surface of some prominent dark green leaf 
only an irregularly shaped film of the finest texture, drawn out 
towards the sloping margin of the leaf into a narrow streak, 
with a slightly thickened termination. The spider then takes 
its place on its back on the irregular patch I have described, 
holding itself in position by means of several strong spines on 
the upper sides of the thighs of its anterior jDairs of legs thrust 
under the film, and crosses its legs over its thorax. Thus rest- 
ing with its white abdomen and black legs as the central and 
dark portions of the excreta, surrounded by its thin web-film 
representing the marginal watery portion become dry, even to 
some of it trickling off and arrested in a thickened extremity 
such as an evaporated drop would leave, it waits with con- 
fidence for its prey — a living bait so artfully contrived as 
to deceive a pair of human eyes even intently examining it. 



G3 A XATUIiALlSrS WANDE1UNGS 



CHAPTER II. 

SOJOURN AT KOSALA IN BANTAM. 

Leave Genteng— Native blacksmiths at Sadjira— Hot springs of Tjipanas— 
Birds and" plants at Tjipanas— Invitationto Kosala— Tlie Kosala estate 
—The curious disease Lata— The Wau-wau— Birds— Bees— White ants 

Great trees— Long drought and its consequences— '1 he Eemileia vas- 

tatrix, a fungoid blight and the buffalo disease— Flora and Fauna of 
Kosala Mountains — Singular living ants' nesis and their develop- 
ment — Orchids at Kosala and some curious devices for securing self- 
fertilisation— Ancient remains in the forest— The Karangs and their 
curious rites — The Badui— Beligion and superstitions of the people of 
Bantam — Leave Kosala. 

After a very interesting period spent at Genteng, I removed 
further to the south in search of a station on the mountains, 
whose distant slopes I could see covered with the great forest 
which I had never yet beheld close, and under whose shade I 
had ever had such an intense longing to roam, the charm of 
whose grandeur, after spending unbroken years in it, remains 
still as one of the most delightful reminiscences of my 
residence in the tropics. Halting for a night at Sadjira I was 
taken by the chief of the village to see numerous blacksmiths 
at work in the manufacture of knives and krisses. The 
bellows used by them in order to give a continuous blast was 
made of two large cylinders of bamboo vertically set in the 
ground, in each of which a piston made of a dense bunch, of 
feathers wound round a rod, was worked alternately, the wind 
being conducted through a small tube at the bottom of each 
bamboo, to meet in one pipe before passing below the fire- 

Pande is the Sundanese term for a worker in iron ; the 
word is of Sanscrit origin, and originally meant "learned." 
Though this signification is not attached to it by the natives 
now, the smiths are held in the greatest esteem by them. 
Before the Hindu invasion the people of Java used only stone 
implements and hatchets, often of great elegance of design 



IN JAVA. 67 

and beautifully polished and turned. Dr. Solewijn Gelpke, 
the director of " the cultures " in Java, has formed at great cost 
a splendid collection of the implements of the stone age of the 
island, some of which I had the pleasure of examining on my 
way home in 1883. Of the beautiful workmanship of the 
early Javanese one or two fine specimens are to be seen in the 
ethnological collection in the British Museum. 

In the village of Tjipanas, in the Tjiberang valley, distant 
only a few miles from Sadjira, I spent a week. The village 
derives its name from the hot-springs (which the name signifies) 
that issue from the ground there at a temperature of 137^- 
140° E. The place is permeated with the odour of sulphur 
rising from the springs, which had been dug out into cisterns, 
round which a crowd of sufferers from long distances were 
constantly seated, bathing their diseased and ulcerated limbs 
and rheumatic joints. 

An abrupt hill which overshadowed the village, rising up to 
about 1000 feet above the sea, reminded me, in the way in 
which it was composed of great blocks of disrupted rock lying 
in all positions and at every angle one on another, of the 
titanic structure of the hills of Cintra to the north of Lisbon. 
Both probably owe their disintegrated condition to the con- 
stant earthquakes by which they are shaken. Growing on 
the thin soil on the tops of the rocks I gathered one of the most 
conspicuous of ground orchids, a tall white-flowered species of 
Calanthe, nearly all of whose flowers I was surprised to find 
had been shed without being fertilised ; while in the crevices 
grew luxuriant Osmundas (0. javanica) closely resembling 
the Royal-ferns found at home. 

In the young forest on its slopes I shot three interesting 
birds; a male and female of the Platylophus galericulatus, a 
crow- like bird with a handsome black crest resembling a 
cockatoo's, finally settling the question that Count Salvadori 
was correct in asserting its Sumatran ally (P. coronatus) to be 
a distinct species, and not the female of the Javan bird as was 
supposed by Mr. Elliott; the other the Fairy Blue-bird (Irene 
turcosa), one of the finest plumaged birds of the island, which 
is highly prized in Europe for plumassiers' purposes. Its wings, 
throat and breast are deep velvety black, while its head> 
back and tail are of glistening turquoise-blue, as if the colour 



G g A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



had beeD enamelled on in an unbroken sheet. It was found 
quite solitary or in company only with its mate, and never in 

flocks. 

I was pleased to see the liveliness of the village children, 

who amused themselves with games very similar to those of 
children at our country schools at home— games of marbles 
played with small stones, very like what is called Tceip in the 
north of Scotland, with varieties of chevy, tig, and blind-man's 

buff. 

Hearino 1 that I had come to reside in the village, a country- 
man, Mr. H. Lash of the Kosala estate, sent me a warm 
invitation to make his house in the mountains my head- 
quarters, winch, as Tjipanas was a very unprofitable station, I 
was only too glad to do. Kosala was only a forenoon's ride up 
through winding valleys to an elevation of 1800 feet. 

My gratitude can never be warmly enough expressed to this 
esteemed friend (now, I regret to say, no more) and his accom- 
plished wife, for their great hospitality and kindness ; and for 
the assistance which for many months was afforded me by my 
host, both personally and through his servants and horses, in 
making botanical collections in the large stretch of virgin 
forest which he owned, specimens of whose great trees were 
special desiderata with me. 

Orchids abounded in great variety in the unopened forest, 
while the tree trunks that had been lying felled in the coffee 
gardens for some time were overrun with the species more 
delighting in sunshine. Being soon struck with the large 
number whose flowers fell without setting any fruit, — a fact 
that first struck me while botanising some years before in the 
south of Europe, — I determined to institute a series of observa- 
tions on these plants, a project in which Mr. Lash — himself 
one of those who sedulously cultivate science in their leisure 
hours — entered with the greatest interest, and never wearied 
of personally searching for specimens, for whose rearing he 
put a great part of his beautiful garden ungrudgingly at my 
disposal. 

The estate house, planned by himself, was a large tiled 
ediliee of planks not subject to the attacks of insects, elevated 
a few feet on piles standing on an asphalt floor, isolated by a 
stream of water entirely encircling the building, so that it was 



IN JAVA. 69 

absolutely free from the tropical pest of ants. Perfectly con- 
structed and furnished for a tropical climate, and provided 
with a large and valuable library, it was admirably situated 
for a botanical station — the hills rising round it to three 
thousand feet, — whose advantages the want of the necessary 
instruments alone prevented me from fully utilising. In no 
part of the Avorld can the climate reach greater perfection, 
I think, than in the mountain regions of these islands, among 
which I first felt the real charm of the life I had espoused. 

The first thing of interest to attract me, within a few hours 
of my arrival at Kosala, was a case in one of the servants of the 
house of that curious cerebral affection called by the natives 
lata. It is of a hysterical nature, and is confined chiefly to 
women, although I have also seen a man affected by it. On 
being startled or excited suddenly, the person becomes lata, 
losing the control of her will, and cannot refrain from imitating 
whatever she may hear or see done, and will keep calling out as 
long as the fit lasts the name — and generally that word alone — of 
whatever has flashed through her mind as the cause of it : " He- 
ih-heh, matjan ! " (tiger) ; " He-ih-heh, boorung besar! " (a great 
bird). Her purpose will be arrested, as, if walking, she will 
stop short, and on going on again will often follow some other 
course. The prefatory exclamation is an invariable symptom, 
seemingly caused by involuntary hysterical inspirations. 
According to the degree of alarm the symptoms may remain 
only a few moments or last for the greater part of a day, 
especially if the patient be prevented from calming down. 
The afflicted, if not very seriously affected, are not altogether 
incapacitated from performing the duties to which they are 
accustomed. The most curious characteristic of the disease is 
their imitation of every action they see. On one occasion, 
while eating a banana, I suddenly met this servant with a 
piece of soap in her hand ; and, perceiving she was slightly 
lata, but without appearing to take any notice of her, I made 
a vigorous bite at the fruit in passing her, an action she 
instantly repeated on the piece of soap. On another occasion, 
while she was looking on as I placed some plants in drjing 
paper, not knowing that caterpillars were objects of supreme 
abhorrence to the natives, I flicked off in a humorous way 
on to her dress one that happened to be on a leaf ; she was 



70 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



instantly intensely fate, and, throwing off all her clothing, 
she made off like a chased deer along the mountain road, 
repeating the word for caterpillar as she ran, until compelled 
by exhaustion to stop, when the spasm gradually left her. My 
own " boy," who would unconcernedly seize all sorts of snakes 
in his hands, became one day lata also, on suddenly touching a 
lar«e caterpillar. My host's maid once, while alone at some 
distance from the house, having come unexpectedly on a large 
lizard— the Baiawak— was seized by a paroxysm; dropping 
down on her hands and knees to imitate the reptile, she thus 
followed it through mud, water and mire to the tree in which 
it took refuge, where she was arrested and came to herself. 
Another case which came under my knowledge was more 
tragic in its results. This woman, startled by treading in a 
field on one of the most venomous snakes in Java, became so 
lata that she vibrated her finger in imitation of the tongue of 
the reptile in front of its head, till the irritated snake struck 
her ; and the poor creature died within an hour. 

During the attack the eyes have a slightly unnatural stare, 
but there is never a total loss of consciousness, and throughout 
the paroxysm the patient is wishful to get away from the 
object affecting her, yet is without the strength of will to 
escape or to cease acting in the way I have described. Lata 
persons are constantly teased by their fellows, and are often 
kept in an excited state for whole days. 

In the early mornings here, I was at first constantly awakened 
by the loud plaintive wailings of a colony of Wau-waus, one of 
the Gibbons (Hyalobates leuciscus) from the neighbouring forest, 
as they came down to the stream to drink. On first hearing 
their cried one can scarcely believe that they do not proceed 
from a band of uproarious and shouting children. Their " Woo- 

oo-ut woo-ut woo-oo-ut wut-wut-wut wutwut- 

wut," always more wailing on a dull, heavy morning previous 
to rain, was just snch as one might expect from the sorrowful 
countenance that is characteristic of this group of the Quad- 
rumana. They have a wonderfully human look in their eyes ; 
and it was with great distress that I witnessed the death of 
the only one I ever shot. Falling on its back with a thud on 
the ground, it raised itself on its elbows, passed its long taper 
fingers over the wound, gave a woful look at them, and fell 



IN JAVA. 71 

back at full length dead — " saperti orang " (just like a man), as 
my boy remarked. A live specimen brought to me by a native, 
I kept in captivity for a short time, and it became one of the 
most gentle and engaging creatures possible ; but when the 
calling of its free mates readied its prison-house, it used to 
place its ear close to the bars of its cage and listen with such 
intense and eager wistfulness that I could not bear to confine 
it longer, and had it set free on the margin of its old forest 
home. Strange to say, its former companions, perceiving 
perhaps the odour of captivity about it, seemed to distrust its 
respectability, and refused to allow it to mingle with them. I 
hope that amid the free woods this taint was soon lost, and 
that it recovered its pristine happiness. The habits of the 
Wau-wau closely resemble those of the Siamang of Sumatra. 

Large stretches of the forest in the immediate neighbourhood 
of the house were planted in coffee gardens, cultivated not as 
in Ceylon in the open sun, but under moderate shade chiefly of 
the Erythrina inclica, in patches cleared out of tbe forest some 
distance isolated from each other so as to prevent the spread, 
if possible, of any outbreak of the coffee disease (Hemileia), and 
to give each garden a chance of escape. Seen from the heights 
above, these parterres scarlet with erythrina flowers, had a very 
brilliant effect on the landscape. In the newer gardens many 
of the felled trees still lay rotting, and there insects and birds 
were in abundance ; but Java has been so well collected over 
by excellent entomologists and naturalists for so long a period 
that few novelties could be expected. Nevertheless, in all 
departments, species of interest were constantly falling under 
my notice for the first time. 

I used to place a lamp close to my open window, in hope of 
attracting moths ; but, while very unsuccessful in this respect, 
I had frequent visits from the smaller sorts of bats, which, on 
my slamming the window to, were, though safely trapped, not 
ensnared within the folds of my butterfly net without a deal 
of clever dodging on their part, and of noisy disturbance of fur- 
niture on mine. Of these one was a very rare species, Ccelops 
frithii, and another has been described as new to science by Mr. 
Oldfield Thomas, under the name of Kerivoula javana, a form 
intermediate between the Philippine and New Guinean types. 

For many months after my arrival the earliest hours of the 



72 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



morning were always resonant with the rich deep notes of the 
Tiiung or Beo, as the Javanese Grackle (Graeula javenensis) is 
oamed. They used to frequent a papaya-tree which grew just 
outside my window, whose fruit they are extremely fond of, 
whence they poured forth their song in the intervals of feed- 
ing. This bird, which is of a rich metallic blue-black plumage, 
has the nape of the neck adorned with two deep orange lappets, 
and is greatly prized as a pet by the natives, from its deep 
and ventriloquistic voice, its wonderful aptitude in learning to 
speak and whistle, and for its comical ways. A very high price 
is often given for a well-trained bird, even by the natives. 
The Grackle is somewhat difficult to rear at first, but when 
once accustomed to confinement it thrives well — I have seen 
one which had been caged for nearly eighteen years — especially 
if a bamboo cylinder be placed in the cage for it to creep 
into at night, as, when in freedom, it does into a hole in a tree. 

Pink-headed doves (Ptilopus porphyreus) fed in flocks on the 
figs ; and at 3000 feet I stumbled on a nestful of six fledg- 
lings of PomatorMnus montanus, which were being tended, I 
was surprised to observe, by three parents ; but I was unable to 
satisfy myself positively whether the additional parent was 
male or female ; my boy, however, who on most subjects was 
well informed, said that " the female ' Patjingpayor ' has always 
two husbands." 

No insect sooner attracts the observation of the new comer 
than the destructive carpenter bees, Xylocopa, which with 
noisy ostentation are incessantly boring their wide tunnels 
into the woodwork of every building. To sit watching their 
entrance, and clay each up in a living tomb of its own 
digging, was one of the most hilarious amusements of the 
boys. Many other species of Hymenoptera attract atten- 
tion by their curious persistence in building mud-cells from 
every hanging thread, in locks and hollow tubes, and in every 
unoccupied corner, stocking them with the caterpillars and 
spiders which is all the store their parental feelings induce 
them to lay up for the benefit of their progeny. Jn the forest 
the resemblance of their domiciles to their surroundings makes 
them less easy to discover; but the accompanying figure of 
a nest of one of the Eumenidee (Zethus cyanopterus) shows 
how artistic and ingenious some of these creatures are. 



IN JAVA. 73 

A colony of these bees had covered the stems of a species 
of Aselepias, overgrowing the face of a high cliff; and it 
took a sharp eye to distinguish their nests from clusters of 
the withered leaves of the climber. Composed of chips of 
leaves glued together, they were protected from the rain by 
a projecting roof, which for the purpose of concealment was 
cunningly shaped like the foliage of the plant itself. There 




NEST OF THE ZETHUS CYAXOFTERUS. 



was quite a crowd of them, and as they circled about, their 
dark wings flashing in the sun as they darted out and into 
their nests, they reminded me of swallows about a church 
window. 

Less obtrusive, more destructive, but full of interest, are the 
operations of the various colonies of termites or White-ants. 
It is impossible to observe the habits of those that bore in the 



74 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

interior of planks and trees ; but by the species, that build large 
excrescences on the tree-trunks, one must admire the specially 
happy way in which has been settled the difficult question of . 
how to keep their thoroughfares clean and unobstructed, and 
with the least trouble dispose of the refuse of so large a colony. 
It is worth while to break down a portion of their tough walls, 
to watch for half an hour the outrush of the city guards with 
their pilcelhaube heads, who with elevated antennas sniff round 
everywhere for the cause of alarm, charging about frantically, 
nodding and beating their spiked frontlets against the walls in 
a most threatening way, till they think the danger past, when 
they retire and order out hordes of builders to repair the 
breaches, who, distinguished at once by the absence of a frontal 
spike, have till then kept away from the scene. 

After a general survey of the ruins, each worker retires to 
fetch a small squarish chip, carefully examines the exact place 
into which it is to be built, then applying to that spot the 
tip of its abdomen, it excretes a drop of a pale glutinous sub- 
stance, places in it the chip, and hammers it down by the 
combined application of its maxillse and antennas. While the 
building is going on a company of soldiers stalk about the walls 
guarding the workers, every now and then tapping their heads 
with the conscious air of a constable reminding them that his 
presence is their safety. Thus block after block with amazing 
rapidity is cemented together, and the sewage of the colony is 
piled into the odourless homogeneous walls of their dwelling. 

I was astonished one day in making a sweep through a 
swarm, as I thought of bees, which was buzzing overhead, to 
find that it was composed of flies called by the natives Papan- 
tong, a species nearly related to our common Blue-bottle. 

Above the coffee gardens the heights, up to 4000 feet, were 
clothed with virgin forest, full of noble giants of the woods. 
In the gardens many of the finest of these trees had been 
allowed to stand, where they exhibited all the stateliness and 
grandeur of stem and crown which can be fully appreciated 
only when surveyed at some distance off. Prominent for their 
straight and shapely pillar-like stems stand out the Lakka 
(Myristica iners), the Rasamala (Liquidambar altingiana), and 
, the white-stemmed Kajeput trees (Melaleuca leucadendron), all 
of them rising with imposing columns, without a branch often 



IN JAVA. 75 

for 80 and sometimes 100 feet. Of the other stately trees 
here, I noticed the Mangosteen (Garcmia mangostana) and 
.the Vernonia javanica, a member of a family, the Cotnjiositse, 
that in our own country never attains any importance greater 
than that of a moderate herb. 

The season, however, was a very unfortunate one for enlarging 
my herbarium. Little over ten per cent, of all the forest trees 
in 1879 produced either flower or fruit. During 1877 a great 
scarcity of rain prevailed, while in 1878 almost an unbroken 
drought existed during the East-monsoon. The parched sur- 
face of the ground broke up into ravine-like cracks, which, ex- 
tending from four to five feet in depth and two to three in 
breadth, destroyed great numbers of the forest-trees by en- 
circling and snapping off their roots. Shrubs and small trees 
in exposed places were simply burned up in broad patches. 
Flowering was almost entirely suspended — so much so that the 
wild bees could produce no honey, which in ordinary years is 
one of the very abundant products of the forests. Crops of all 
kinds failed, while devastating fires, whose origin could seldom 
be traced, were so frequent in the forest and in the great alang- 
alang fields, that the population lived in constant fear of 
their villages and even of their lives and stock. It was in vain 
that the natives, following their superstitious rites, carried their 
cats in procession, to the sound of gongs and the clattering 
of rice blocks, to the nearest streams to bathe and sprinkle 
them ; the rain after such a ceremony ought to have come, 
but it did not. 

The Batavia Handehllad states the loss in Java, consequent 
on the drought of 1878, to have been on coffee, ten millions 
of guilders ; on sugar, seven ; on tobacco, five ; and on rice 
fifteen — equal in all to a loss in English money of £3,000,000. 
The West-monsoon (November to March) of 1878-9, memorable 
for its excessive rain, was followed by an abnormally wet and 
sunless dry season, which was almost as disastrous for the 
cultures of the island as its predecessors had been from 
drought. The coffee-trees produced abundance of flowers, but 
as scarcely a bee was to be seen anywhere, very few of these 
became fertilised or produced berries— so easily is the balance 
of nature disturbed. Later in the season, however, the coffee 
shrubs produced a second show of flowers, which in a multitude 



70 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



of cases did not proceed further than knobbed buds, the bulk 
of which I found, by marking and carefully examining them 
every day, produced fruit without expanding their petals, or, to 
use the scientific term, cleistogamously. 

Marching in company with these disastrous seasons came 
the terrible epidemic among the buffaloes (the natives' stay 
in the cultivation of their fields, and the main part of their 
riches), which had not disappeared in the middle of 1883, 
being less violent only from paucity of victims. The plague 
was nearly coincident with the blight —fortunately net of a 
very severe nature — of the Hemileia vastatrix in the coffee 
gardens. It is a remarkable fact that the buffalo disease 
and the Hemileia appeared without, as far as can be traced, 
extraneous contagion, on the western coasts of Sumatra 
(happily for that island in a slight degree only), and on the 
extreme west of Java, whence it vaulted in most eccentric 
rjot throughout the whole island. Not only was the coffee 
blighted, but the grass meadows and the forest trees also were 
so covered, especially in places with a westerly exposure, with a 
fungoid disease as to become a subject of native remark. One 
could not help suspecting that these noxious germs had been 
brought by the winds, and that perhaps even the plague in 
the herds had resulted from the blighted grass -on which they 
fed. The correctness of this view seems to some slight degree 
corroborated by the information I subsequently obtained from 
natives and others in various parts of the Archipelago. In 
Sumatra, not only the buffaloes suffered, but the elephants, the 
deer and the wild pigs died in the forest in immense numbers, 
and, by preying on the dying herds, even the tigers fell 
victims to the stalking pestilence. In Timor also, in the 
higher parts of the interior of the island, the cattle were 
attacked, while in the southern plains the pigs and the horses, 
which there run wild in herds, were found scattered about in 
the forest dead. 

Closely following the bad years and the bovine pestilence, 
which deprived them of the means of cultivating their lands, 
came a scarcity bordering on famine and a fever epidemic of a 
virulent kind, to which the natives succumbed in thousands. 
The tale of the woes of their province must surely have 
seemed to them full and running over when the volcanic wave 



IN JAVA. 77 

from the eruption of Krakatoa, in 1883, overwhelmed its sea- 
board and washed so many of their fellows to destruction. 

Notwithstanding the bad season, by hunting far and wide 
my herbarium grew slowly in bulk, for, though the great 
trees were in a very destitute condition, herbaceous plants 
were abundant, and not a few of the smaller shrubs and trees 
had begun to recover somewhat. Among the most attractive 
shrubs were the species of figs, of which there was an endless 
variety. The whole group of the Artocarpeas is remarkable 
for beauty of foliage and fruit — as the hollow receptacle in 
which their minute flowers and true fruits are developed is 
often popularly called — for their striking habit and for their 
useful products. Some of them, as the india-rubber producing 
waringins and kawats species of Urostigma (U. microcarpum, 
and consociatum), are among the giants of the vegetable world, 
and its most relentless parasites and tyrants. Brought by 
some wandering bird or fruit-eating quadruped to the cleft of 
a high tree, the seed germinating drops down all round its 
host long tendril -like roots, which in a few seasons become 
indissoluble bonds that interlace, grow together, and close up 
the tree-stem that gave it its support, till its life is choked 
out, and only here and there, before it finally disappears, can it 
be seen through latticed apertures, like an Inquisition martyr 
, built into the wall. The young kawat grows, shoots upward 

its top and 

" spreads her arms, 
Branching so broad and long, that on the ground 
The bended twigs take root ; and daughters grow 
About the mot her- tree, a pillared shade." 

Less stately but not less beautiful are the shrub forms, the 
species of Hamplas (Ficus microcarjxi, amplas, and politoria) 
whose rough leaves provide the natives with ready-made sand- 
paper ; the Ficus corch'folia, the Amismata (Ficus aspera), 
and the Kihedjo — a bushy shrub, whose fruit, always in 
profusion along its branches, is when ripe of a rich purple 
hue, and unripe of the brightest vermilion or carmine colour, 
in brilliant contrast to its dark foliage; while the semi- 
parasitic climbing Ficus rodicans delights to cling to the 
tallest trees of the forest. Its fruit, which is as large as an 
orange, is put forth throughout the whole extent of its stem in 
7 



78 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



profuse abundance, massed in clusters in every stage of growth ; 
and as these in their passage to maturity assume all the diffe- 
,,.,,, i, n |ii ;m t hues by which rich orange changes into the 
sombre Bhades of purple, the effect against the background of 
the tree-stem and of its own singularly chaste foliage is strik- 
ing iu the extreme, and is one of these objects that the eye can 
nieel every day with renewed pleasure. 

The highest mountain in this neighbourhood attains an 
elevation of nearly 5000 feet, and for the last 500 yards of its 
ascent presented many interesting features. In producing 
plants rarely found at so low an elevation on higher moun- 
tains, the Javan flora on the pure volcanic clay differs from 
that where the soil is more overlaid with forest humus. 
Two ferns, a species of Gleichenia and the broad-fronded 
Dipteris h orsfiel d i— here at its lowest altitudinal limit — pro- 
fuse] v coyered the ground; and, as if stretching their utmost 
towards the heights where they naturally grow, rhododendrons 
and a beautiful creeping species of Ericaceae (Gctultheria 
rejpi ns) clothed the tops of the tallest trees. The lemon-scented 
laurel (Tttranthera cHrata), whose leaves and fruit give out a 
sweet odour that can be detected a long way off, grew in 
clumps ; and its fruits, a favourite food of the Bulbuls and 
the Bell-birds, retain their perfume even after they have been 
dropped by these birds. 

At the summit pitcher-plants {Nepenthes pliyllampliora) 
appeared in profusion, climbing up the trees and running 
over the ground among the moss, out of which peeped the 
delicate bright star-like flowers of the AgrGstemma montanum, 
which always reminded me of the pretty European Chickweed 
Winter-green (Trientalis europoea) of our northern woods. 
On one of the lower knolls I found perhaps the most in- 
teresting plant in my Javan collection, a species of Petr&a 
(P. arborea), growing entirely wild in the forest. This genus, 
belonging to the family of the Yerbenaceze, is almost entirely 
confined to the South American continent; and it is of 
extreme interest to find it, in this inexplicable way, cropping 
up in a region so far removed from the centre of its distribu- 
tion. A species from the island of Timor occurs, without 
history, in the collection in the British Museum made by 
Mr Robert Brown; but these are the only two examples, so 




TBA5I8VEB8E seotion of the stem of Myrmecodia tubewsa. 



IN JAVA. 79 

far as I am aware, hitherto collected uncultivated in the 
Old World. 

The 14th of June is to me memorable as being the day 
on which for the first time I saw in its native habitat, and 
gathered there, that most singular of the vegetable productions 
of the Indian Archipelago, the Myrmeeodia tuberom and 
Hijchiopliytum formicarum. Their most striking characteristic 
will be indelibly marked in my remembrance by the sen- 
sations other than mental, by which their acquaintance was 
made. 

In tearing down a galaxy of epiphytic orchids from an 
erythrina tree, I was totally overrun, during the short momen- 
tary contact of my hand with the bunch, with myriads of a 
minute species of ant [Plieidoh javana), whose every bite was a 
sting of fire. Beating a precipitous retreat from the spot, I 
stripped with the haste of desperation, but, like pepper-dust 
over me, they were writhing and twisting their envenomed 
jaws in my skin, each little abdomen spitefully quivering with 
every thrust it made. Going back, when once I had rid 
myself of my tormentors, to secure the specimens I had 
gathered, I discovered in the centre of the bunch a singular 
plant I had never seen before, which I perceived to be the 
central attraction of the ants. It was called Kitang-hurdk by 
my boy, who said it was the home of the ants. I was over- 
joyed with the revelation that a slice struck off by my knife, 
made of an intricate honeycombed structure swarming with 
minute ants — a living formicarium. 

In the space of a short search I found, generally high on 
the trees, abundance of specimens of both genera, which, not 
without several futile attempts and many imprecations and 
groanings on the part of my boys, were brought to the ground ; 
and, at the ends of a pole over their shoulders, up which the 
infuriated dwellers would ascend to spread over their bare 
bodies to their frequent discomfiture, they were at last safely 
deposited in a spot in Mr. Lash's garden, where I could 
examine them with comfort without disturbing their inhabi- 
tants. 

The accompanying representation (page 80) represents the 
general appearance of the epiphyte : a spine-covered bulb 
surmounted by a cylindrical axis bearing leaves and minute 



80 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



flowers, while the longitudiual section on the opposite page 
shows ili«' complicate system of galleries -some of them 
papillated— inhabited by the ants. 

Observing the ants often employed in carrying out whitish 
particles, I at rirst conjectured that the irritation of their 
digging out a dwelling must have induced the swelling of the 
Lull, ; and, curious to see the modus operandi of its commence- 
ment. I decided to raise a few of them from seed. This turned 
my attention to their flowers and fruit. The flowers are pro- 
duced in deep spine-protected pits on the axis surmounting 




TOUNG PLANT OF MYBMECODIA TrBEROSA. 

the. bulb, and are remarkable for the extreme rapidity with 
which the cycle of their functional changes are performed. 
The pellucid white flower appears, and is followed by an 
orange, watery fruit, whose seeds ripen and often germinate in 
the little pits where they grow, all within the space of thirty- 
six hours. 

Some years later Dr. Burck, of the Buitenzorg Gardens, most 
kindly showed me specimens and microscopic slides illustrating 
some interesting observations* he had made on these flowers : 
that the corolla segments rarely open (though a slight touch 

* These have since been published in the ' Annales du Jardin Botanique du 
Buitenzorg,' vol. i\\, p. 16. 



IN JAVA. 81 

can effect it) ; that the pollen grains exsert their pollen tubes 
while still in the anthers ; and that both the external and the 
internal surfaces of the lobes of the pistil are covered with 
papillae, indicating that these surfaces are functionally active. 

I have never observed these flowers approached by the ants 
that infest the interior, nor by any other insect, which to gain 
admission to the flower, even if open, must be very small 
indeed. The anthers and the pistil do not seem to reach 
maturity together, yet it would seem that self-fertilisation 
alone can take place ; perhaps the tubes of the pollen grains 
which fall to the bottom of the corolla manage to reach the 
lower lobes of the pistil and produce fecundation. 

The seeds I planted germinated with great freedom, and I 
cultivated quite a number of young Myrmecodia, whose growth I 
watched with the greatest interest. Many of them I kept quite 
isolated from the interference not only of the Pheiclole javana, 
which seems to be the only species of ant which lives in these 
plants in their native state, but of all other species, and I was 
surprised to find that from their very earliest appearance this 
curious galleriecl structure arose without the presence of the 
ants, and that the plants continued to grow and thrive vigo- 
rously in their absence as long as I cultivated them. Some 
bulbs had a single canal reaching to their centre from a round 
orifice opening generally close to the little tap-root ; others 
presented one or two loculi in the interior, without any 
communication at first with the exterior, 
partially full of a spongy substance look- 
ing like its own degenerated tissue. These 
chambers invariably developed a spongy 
pith — which in a section it was not diffi- 
cult to trace out in advance in the still 
fleshy substance — towards and to open at 

1 , . ,i , • £ YOUNG MTRMECODIA, AND 

last at one or more spots on the exterior ot section of a somewhat 
the bulb. Secondary galleries, arising in 0LDEU 0NE - 
the same manner as the primary, soon formed communicating 
channels, extending with age, throughout the whole of the 
growing bulb. At a later period, in Amboina, where the 
Myrmeeoiia and the Hydnophytum were very abundant, I 
found many specimens containing a large central and quite 
isolated chamber full of water — not rain-water — round which 




62 A NATURALISTS WANDERINGS 



radiated the galleries tenanted by cants and their larvae of the 
same species as in .lava. 

Since my original observations, Dr. Melchior Treub, Director 
of the Botanic Gardens in Buitenzorg, has conducted and pub- 
lished * a series of important researches into the development 
of these bizarre plants, which have confirmed generally the 
observations I had made, and have proved besides that what 
I have called degeneration is the result of a transformation 
into cork of the tissue of the plant ; which, becoming entirely 
dried up, gradually extends the galleries towards the exterior, 
when the Huffy mass disappears or is carried out by the ants. 

Notwithstanding these researches it remains still a mystery- 
what causes the development' of these corky cells, what advan- 
tage the plant derives from its unusual structure, and what is 
the mutual benefit of this close relation between insect and 
plant. That the ants should so persistently infest and yet 
derive no advantage beyond accommodation from the plant, 
seems unlikely ; it is probable however that the papillae in 
the galleries, whose function is still an enigma, may afford some 
nourishment to them, but that the insects are not absolutely 
indispensable to the perfect performance of the functions of the 
plant is certain from Dr. Treub's observations. He suggests that 
they perhaps ward off enemies from the plant, or that they may 
remove, for their own nourishment, injurious excretions from 
the papillae of these channels whose office may be to distribute 
air through the fleshy mass of the bulb. Altogether these 
Myrmecodia are among the most singular of vegetable pro- 
ductions, showing us how much we have yet to learn of the 
intricate processes of nature. 

I gathered here another interesting specimen in some 
leaves of the Bryophjllum calycinum. As is well known, the 
marginal notches of the leaves of this plant, when laid on the 
ground or in a damp place, produce buds which develop into 
new plants. In the leaves I gathered here, however, complett 
flowers and fruit were produced directly from the notches. 

While botanising in Portugal, in the spring of 1877,f I was 
remarkably struck by the number of orchids I gathered that 

* In the ' Annales,' sup. cifc.. vol. iii., pp. 130-157, from which the accom- 
panying figures here reproduced are taken. 
f Nature, vol. xvi. p. 102. 



IN JAVA. 83 

seemed never to have had an effective visit paid them by any 
of the crowd of bees, butterflies, and beetles, among which 
they blossomed. They were mostly terrestrial species, ophrys 
chiefly, and were some of them handsome, and very sweetly 
scented ; yet 'they might as well have wasted their sweetness 
on the desert air, for scarcely any of them ever lost their pollen 
masses, or had these fertilising grains applied to their own 
stigmas. Since then I have carefully examined all orchids 
that I have encountered, and have been surprised at the 
immense numbers which — possessing brilliant, small, and not 
seldom even large flowers, often highly perfumed — never or 
very rarely produce seed capsules, but which blossom and 
fall without benefiting in any way their race. At Kosala I 
was able to continue my observations both on those growing 
naturally in the forest as well as on those I reared in Mr. Lash's 
garden, where, after once taking to the trees they were as 
nearly as possible under natural conditions. The Cymbidium 
tricolor produces flower-spikes often attaining a length of 
nearly four feet, studded with florets which are rather sombre 
in colour; yet it could scarcely be passed without attracting 
admirution. Of the florets of several plants I counted, seventy- 
nine per cent, had their pollinia intact, after, to all appearance, 
having been exposed for a long time, and of those that had 
lost their pollinia not one stigmatic surface had pollen grains 
applied to it. On another occasion the whole of the florets 
examined were unvisited ; while on a third occasion eighty- 
nine per cent, of the florets examined had their pollinia safe in 
the anthers, nine per cent, being damaged, either having lost 
their labellum or having the column eaten by the larva? of a 
species of GoceinelUdee. One alone was fructified. 

I gathered the rather rare Cymbidium stapelioides, growing 
at a height of 2600 feet above the sea, flowering on a fallen 
tree. I brought it home, 1000 feet lower, and fixed it to a tree- 
stem, to which it at once took kindly. None of the flowers 
which were expanded when I found it were fertilised ; but one 
of the bulbs had a stem with a solitary capsule. For three 
weeks the plant remained in the condition in which I found 
it, its large and handsome, though somewhat dull-coloured, 
flowers retaining their perfect freshness during all this eriod. 
I then took compassion on its barren state, and fertilised from 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



their neighbours four of its florets. These alone of the sixteen 
flowers bore fruit. A couple of months later a fine new spike 
appeared, which I left to its own resources. For between four 
and five weeks it exhibited a very fine tross of twelve flowers; 
but not one seed-capsule was produced. The insect life at the 
Lower station seemed quite as abundant as at the higher. 
This orchid possesses no nectary, and its odour, if not 
pleasant, is not disagreeable. The viscid disk of its pollinia 
is remarkable for its elasticity. After removing a pollen 
mass from the anther, I applied it to the stigma of another 
flofet, and on withdrawing the pencil to which it was ad- 
hering, it sprang back with an audible snap, the viscid disk 
stretching quite one-eighth of an inch, without leaving pollen 
on the stigma, for the floret did not set a capsule. The same 
result followed after allowing the pollen to remain for some 
seconds in contact with the stigmatic surface. After the lapse 
of a week the viscid disk still retained its elasticity unimpaired, 
so much so that I was able to extend it as often as ten times 
for various distances up to nearly one-fifth of an inch before 
the connection gave way — a sharp snap always accompanying 
its relaxation. 

One* of the prettiest and commonest orchids here was a pure 
white Denclrobium (D. crumenatum), which suddenly appears 
in flower on all the trees of a district nearly on the same day. 
I have examined many hundreds of flowers, and I am quite 
sure, though I have not kept very accurate statistics of the 
numbers, that not one in eighty ever sets a seed capsule. 

Growing terrestrially in abundance in damp shady situa- 
tions is another group of this family belonging to the genus 
Oalantlis. Calanthe veratrifolia produces quite a dense head 
of elegant white flowers, but the number of those that become 
fertilised are in enormous disproportion to those that fall off 
barren. I have examined plants in numerous localities, in 
heights amid the dense forest, as well as in more open 
situations ; I have studied them low down, both in the sun and 
in the deep shade, but have invariably found that a very 
srnall proportion produces fruit. Generally the pollinia are 
found in the anther after the fall of the flower; but often they 
are absent, without any pollen being left in return on the 
stigma. In five different plants, out of 360 florets examined, 



IN JAVA. 85 

109 were withering with intact anthers, or had lost their pol- 
len and were unfertilised, 245 had fallen off, six only had 
produced capsules. These are not selected instances, hut the 
result of the examination of five plants as they occur in my 
note-book. I have several times found in various species of 
Calantlie, specimens which at first I thought to be cleisto- 
gamoushj fertilised, where the ovules were enlarged in the 
ovary, and the flowers quite open ; but close examination has 
shown that this is the effect of the irritation of a small species 
of Hymenoptera — a eynips probablv. 

Mr. Darwin, in his 'Fertilisation of Orchids,' enumerates 
but four instances of self-fertilisation as coming under his 
observation, namely : in Ophrys apt/era, by the falling forward 
of its own pollinia, which are then, by the agency of the wind, 
brought into contact with the stigma — the plant being capable 
also of cross fertilisation ; in Peristylis viridis, which is pos- 
sible to be self-fertilised by its own pollen from the head of 
the visiting insect ; in Ceplialanthera grandifiora, which is 
perpetually self-fertilised by its pollen grains that rest against 
the upper sharp edge of the stigma thrusting down their 
pollen tubes into the ovary ; lastly, Dendrobium chrysanthum, 
which may possibly be self-fertilised by its own peculiar acro- 
batic pollen. In the additional instances here given, some 
will be found to be singular and different, I believe, from 
any hitherto recorded.* 

The genus Phajus is an exceedingly handsome and attrac- 
tive coterie of orchids growing in open and sunny places, 
throwing up from their large broad root leaves, stout erect 
flower-stalks, one and a-half to two feet in height, crowded 
with florets. The expanded sepals of Phajus Blumei mea- 
sure laterally from tip to tip twelve to fourteen centimetres. 
Their external margins are white and interiorlv rich chest- 
nut brown ; the labellum is of a beautiful bright purple 
magenta colour, margined with yellowish white. Its fringed 
mouth forms a broad landing-stage for passing insects, for 
whose benefit brightly coloured ridges point the way in vain 
to the nectary, as, unfortunately for the visitor, it rarely con- 

* From here to the top of page 96 may be passed over by the generai 
reader not interested in this subject made so fascinating by tbe studies cf 
Mr. Darwin given in the volume referred to above. 



S6 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



tains any nectar. The column, embraced by the labellum, is 
massive, expanding into a stigma eleven millimetres broad, 
secreting an abundance of viscid matter, crowned with the 
anther and its pollen, whose caudicles, composed of pollen 





BIO, 1. — PHAJUS BLUMEI, SHOWING AN- FIG. 2. — PHAJUS BLUMEI, SHOWING THE 



THER WITH rOLl INIA REMOVED | 
C, STIGMA ; F, BASE OF ANTHEE ; 
G, ROSTELLUM. 

[The following figures are all slightly 
diagrammatic.'] 



TOLLINIA AVALANCHED DOWN- 

WARDS, CARRYING WITH THEM THE 
ROSTELLUM, G ; A, ANTHER-CAP ; E, 
SWOLLEN POLLINIA ; C, STIGMA ; 
E, TIP OF CAUDICLES OF POLLINIA. 



grains, protrude their tips from beneath the anther- cap. I exa- 
mined more than one hundred and fifty flowers of P. Blumei, 
but I did not find one that was not, or could be otherwise than, 
self-fertilised. Its essential organs exist in two forms, slightly 
but interestingly different. 




FIG. 3.— BED OF TIIAJES BLUMEI, SHOW- 
ING POLLINIA IN ERECT POSITION; 
A, ANTHER-CAP; B, POLLINIA; C, 
STIGMA ; D, MEDIAN RIDGE. 




FIG. 4. — LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF 
COLUMN OF PHAJUS BLUMEI (SIDE 
VIEW) ; A, P, C, D, AS IN FIG. 3 ; 
I, BOUNDARY OF STIGMA. 



Flowers of the first form have, arching over the deep and 
covered stigma, a well-developed tongue-shaped projection or 
rostellum, on which lie the caudicles of the pollinia, which 
have no viscid disk (Fig. 1). On each side, the rostellum 
leaves between itself and the external walls of the column a 



IN JAVA. 



87 



narrow channel by which the viscid matter of the stigma 
reaches the anther. In examining an advanced bud, the viscid 
matter of the stigma is seen to be in large quantity and rather 
liquid. It increases with the growth of the flower till it 
overflows, — often before the bud opens— and, immediately on 
its opening, inundates the pollinia, which now increase in size, 
and either avalanche downwards, sometimes quite obliterating 
the rostellum (Fig. 2, p. 86) ; or, while retaining their position 
in the anther, emit their tubes over the narrower portion of 
the rostellum into the stylary canal. Very often both anther 
and stigma become quite filled up by the multitude of pollen- 
tubes and by the swollen pollinia. All these plants produced 
large and well-filled seed-capsules on every flower ; but I 





FIG. 5. — PHAJIS BLUJ1ET, SHOWING THE 
ANTHER ROTATED 1 OWN WARDS ; A, 
C, AS IN JIG. 3. 



6. — 1 HA JUS BLIMEI, SHOWING A 
MOKE ADVANCED STAGE THAN FIG. 5 ; 
THE ANTHER-CAP A, HAS OPENED; 
B, SWOLLEN rOLLIMA ; C, E, AS IN 
FIG. 2 ; K, TIP OF ANTHEi:-CAP. 



never saw an insect visit the plants during all my observations, 
although the plants were situated where I could inspect them 
constantly throughout the day or night. 

Of flowers of the second form, I examined many more examples. 
Here there is no rostellum, nevertheless the boundaries of the 
stigma are quite distinct (Figs. 3, 4, p. 86). On examining a 
young bud, the anther (enclosing the pollinia) is seen standing 
vertically erect on the top of the column— i.e. of the detached 
column, without reference to its position in the flower — forming 
as it were a pointed extension of it, and attached to it by its 
minute filament. As the flower progresses in growth. the anther- 
eap ruptures and rotates forward. When it has descended 
through about 90°, it occupies (Fig. 5) the position which, if it 
possessed a rostellum, it would naturally retain ; but, having 



88 



A NATURALISTS WANDERINGS 



none, it continues to rotate through about 70° more, till it 
comes into contact with the face of the column, that is with 
the stigmatic cavity, which is very large, broad and full of viscid 
matter (Fig. 6). The whole surface of the lower four pollinia 
come into contact with the viscid matter and sink well into it, 
while the viscid matter finds its way gradually about all of 
the pollinia. The inner members of the upper row of pollinia 
sometimes escape this inundation, but it seems of little avail to 
the plant for its cross-fertilisation, for they remain throughout 
covered by the anther-cap. The tips of the caudicles, how- 
ever, remain in most cases unaffected throughout, but I have 
found it difficult to remove any of their pollen grains. The 
inundated pollinia have no obstacles to bar the way of their 
tubes to the ovary. On clearing out with a blunt instrument 




F G. 7.— PHAJCS BLUMET, SAME AS FIG. 6, 
WITH ANTHER-CAP MERELY DOTTED 
IN ; A, B, C, AS IN PREVIOUS FIGURES. 




FIG. 8. — PHAJIS BLUMET, SHOWING EXTRA 
ANTHER, H ; A, B, C, AS IN PREVIOUS 
FIGURES. 



the swollen pollinia from the stigma, it can be seen that from 
nearly the top of the column, along the posterior median line, a 
prominent ridge (Fig. 3, p. 86) runs down almost to the ovarium. 
In the light afforded by the dissection of an Arundina speciosa 
(to be mentioned below) this would appear to represent the 
absent rostellum. Large seed-capsules were produced by every 
flower of this form. This Phajus is also remarkable for pro- 
ducing, at times two, supernumerary anthers on the top of the 
column one on each side of the normal anthers (Fig. 8). 

Here then we have an orchid whose flowers present every 
attraction to insects to pay at least a first visit (when they 
would find no nectar), all of them gay, with a nectary, and 
a beautifully painted and finger-posted labellum, yet rarely 
possible to be anything but self-fertilised. 



IN JAVA. 



89 



I have examined other species of the genus, and found them 
to be fertilised in almost identically the same maimer. 

A not uncommon orchid by the sides of second-growth 
forest or banks of streams over all the Archipelago, is the 





Ci 



fig. 9.— spathoglottis pl1cata (front fig. 10. — spathoglottis i'licata (side 

view); a. anther-cap; b.pollinia; view), when anther has rotated 

c, caudicles of tollinia ; d, downwards; a, c, e, f, g, as in 

stigma; e, front of column; f, fig. 9; h, rostellum. 
tip of anther-cap; g, flap of 
margin of stigma. 

white or purple terrestrial orchid Spathoglottis plicata, Bl., 
whose method of fertilisation differs from that of the Phajus. 
Its pollinia lie in a rather deep anther, which runs out into a 




FIG. 11. SPATHOGLOTTIS TLICATA, 

LONGITUDINAL SECTION' (SIDE VIEW); 
A, C, E, F, H, AS IN PREVIOUS 
FIGURE ; B, POLLINIA. [DIAGRAM- 
MATIC.] 




12. SPATHOGLOTTIS PLICATA. 

(FRONT VIEW), WITH THE ANTHER 
ROTATED DOWN OVER THE STIGMA ; 
LETTERS SAME AS IN PREVIOUS 
FIGURES. 



long sharp triangular rostellum far overarching the stigma 
(Figs. 10, 11). The pollinia-caudicles, composed of pollen grains, 
protrude from below the anther case and lie on the rostellum, 
projecting a little beyond its tip, as seen in the lateral view of 



90 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



the Longitudinal section, Fig. 10. The stigma is triangular, 
with its apex downwards. There is no nectary. The stiginatie 
substance becomes viscid even in the 
young bud ; and as soon as the anther has 
rotated into its normal position, it begins to 
increase in quantity — the increase is often 
so great that it bulges out in front of the 
rim of the stigma — and, swelling up, flows 
over into the anther by the canals (seen in 
Fig. 15), between the column and the edge 
of the rostellum. Even before the ojjening 
of the flower I have found the external 
pollen masses on each side bathed with 
i'L!catasameasfig.12, the stigmatie fluid, and already exserting 

BUT WITH ANTHER-CAP ,i • , i rni i 1 l xl 

removed ; b, c, g as in their tubes. Ihese descend by the grooves 
FIG - 12 - I have mentioned on both sides to the 

stylary canal. Concomitant with the flood- 
ing of the anther there has been taking place a slow approxi- 
mation of the under side of the rostellum to the lower lip of 
the stigma, till its lobes finally embrace the rostellum, bind- 
ing down the whole anther (Figs. 10, 12), so that when the 




FIG. 13. — SPATHOGLOTTIS 




FIG. 14.— SPATHOGLOTTIS PLICATA(FRONT 
VIEW) DIAGRAMMATIC, SHOWING 
ROUTE TO THE STYLARY CANAL 
TAKEN BY POLLEN TUBES, B" ; A, B, 
C, F, AS IN FIG. 10. 




FIG. 15. — SPATHOGLOTTIS PLICATA ; THE 
APEX OF THE COLUMN, WITH THE 
TOLLIXIA REMOVED ; SHOWING THE 
MARGINAL CANALS BETWEEN THE 
COLUMX-WAI.L AND THE FLOOR, I, OF 
THE ANTHER; II, THE ROSTELLUM. 



act of fertilisation has been completed the stigma is almost 
obliterated, leaving no room for any foreign pollen to be 
applied to its surface. The direction taken by the pollen 
tubes is shown somewhat diagrammatically in Fig 14 The 
pollen grains of the caudicles of the pollinia remain as a rule 
unaffected, but, not being at all viscid, they are not easily 



IN JAVA. 



91 



removable. The operations here described are often, completed 
before the opening of the Spathoglottis at all. 

Of the orchids I gathered here none interested me more 




FIG. 16. — ARUNDINA FPECI03A ; A, B, E, 
AS FIG. 17; C, UPPER MARGIN, AND 
D, LOWER AND SIDE FLAPS OP 
STIGMA. 




17. — ARUNIjIXA SPECIOSA \VXO) ; 

A, TOP OF CREST OF ANTHER-CAP ; 

B, POLLINIA ; D, LOWKB MARGIN' OF 
STIGMA ; E, STIGMA ; F, FRONT OF 
COLUMN. 



than the Arundina spsciosa, Bl. This cane-like species grows 
to a height of between live and six feet, producing without 
intermission for many months a succession of large and 
beautiful purple flowers. The labellum is tubular, and has a 




KG. 18. — ARUNDINA SPECIOSA SHOWING 
ANTHER QUITE ROTATED INTO 
STIGMA ; D, LOWER FLAPS OF STIGMA 
CLOSING DOWN ANTHER-CAP ; A, F, 
AS IN FIG. 17. 



r--B. 




FIG. 19.— ARUNDINA SPECIOSA SHOWING 
POLLINIA ROTATED INTO STIGMA 
AND THE FRONT OF COLUMN, P, 
BTJBST WITH SWOLLEN POLLEN 
TUBES. ANTHER-CAP REMOVEP. 



broad fringed dark purple margin, from which radiate deeper 
lines converging towards the bright yellow throat, where they 
merge in two ridges leading to the shallow nectar-depression 
at the base of the column. 

In the very young bud (Fig. 10) the column is crowned with 



92 



A NATURALISTS WANDERINGS 



its anther erect on the posterior part of the column. Underneath 
is the stigma, of a roughly square shape, its upper rim standing 
erect in front of the pollinia, rising to about one third of their 
height as a triangular eminence, which corresponds with the front 
margin of the rostellar platform. It is not in every flower that 
the shape of the stigma can be seen well, for the stage presently 
to be described begins very soon, often before the flower is 
expanded ; and only by the examination of a very large series 
have I been able to follow the modifications that have 
occurred. 

Concurrent with or even before the commencement of 
the rotation of the anther into its normal position some in- 





FIG. 20. — ARUNDINA SPECIO-A, SHOWING 
A SECTION" OF COLOIN OPENED FROM 
JiEHIND ; C, TOP OF UPPER MAE- 
GIN* OF STIGMA (CORRESPONDING TO 
ECS TELLOl); C", POKTION OF STIGMA; 
G, STYLARY CANAL. 



FIG. 21. — ARUNDiNA SPECIOSA, BUD SHOW- 
ING THE UPPER EIM OF STIGMA 
ALREADY INYEETED DOWN THE 
STYLARY CANAL; LETTERS A3 IN 
FIG. 17. 



fluence— which I do not know— causes the upper margin of the 
stigma to Income inverted close down the posterior wall of the 
stylary canal, as seen in Fig. 17, and in longitudinal section 
opemdfrom behind in Fig. 20, where the rostellum is seen hang- 
ing down the canal as a narrow band. Fig. 21 represents a very 
young bud, in which, though the pollinia had scarcely begun 
to rotate, the stigma had become already much modified, and is 
in waiting for the rotation of the pollinia. Along with this in- 
vagination of the upper margin of the stigma (the rostellum) its 
lower lip is in consequence dragged (?) upwards. Dissections 
of the column showed that the rostellum goes on elongating 
down the stylary canal, as in Fig. 20, while the pollinia, slowly 
continuing to rotate downwards, finally precipitate them- 
selves into the stigma, whose flap-like margins embrace the 



IN JAVA. 



93 



anther-cap, as seen in Fig. 18 and in 19, where the anther-cap 
is removed. 

On the conclusion of these singular movements no remains 
of the stigma can be seen. As a rule these operations are con^ 
eluded before the full expanding of the flower, whose petals, 
after remaining expanded for only a 
few hours, fade, and, closing round the 
column, exclude any intruder from dis- 
turbing the interesting and mysterious 
rites of nature being enacted within. 
I have found that in some cases the 
rostellum (the upper margin of the 
stigma) is not invaginated down the 
stylary canal, but retains the more 
natural orchideal form of a broad flat fig. 22.— arundin 
floor to the anther, projecting far over 
the stigma as seen in Fig. 22. When 
the flower of Arundina speciosa has this 
rare form it invariably, as far as my 
observations enable me to speak, falls off unfertilii>ed. The 
pollinia also lie far back in the anther, and are entirely con- 
cealed by the anther-case, which fits close down all round. An 
insect, to secure the pollinia, would require to alight on the 




A SPECIOSA, 
SHOWING THE SECOND FORM 
OF FLOWER; E, F, AS IN 
FIG. 16; I, RIDGE ON FLOOR 
OF ANTHER H; K, BOUNDARY 
OF ANTHER-CAP. 



IZ3 2 - 




FIG. 23. FIG. 24. 

FIGS. 23 AND 24. — ERIA SP., NEAR TO E. JAVENSIS ; A, ANTHER-CAP, IN FIG. 23, 
SHRIVELLED UP ; B, POLLINIA | B 2 , POLLINIA SWOLLEN AFTER FALLING INTO 
STIGMA ; D, ROSTELLUM ; E, STIGMA. 

margin of the rostellar platform and lift up the anther case, a 
difficult operation, which supposing it to have successfully 
accomplished, it might wander far to find a stigma to apply 
the pollen so obtained to, for its own form of organs does not 

8 



!M 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



probably occur on a second floret of its own species, within a 
wide area. Flowers with this conformation, however, remain 
expanded and fresh for several days, in marked contrast to 
those of the first form, which close up in a very few hours. 

In the median line of the upper surface of the rostellum 
there is a well-marked ridge (Fig. 22) which runs out to the tip 
to form the central promontory of the rostellum. In describing 
Phajxs Blumei I remarked that there existed on the back of the 
stigma a prominent ridge running down nearly to the ovary. 
Now if we were to suppose the ridged rostellum of Arundina 
to become adherent to the back of the stigma instead of 
hanging down free, we should have such a ridge as is seen in 





FIG. 25. 

FIG. 25. — CHRYSOGLOSSCM SP. THE FIG. OX THE LEFT REPRESENTS TWO FLORETS 
ON FLOWER STEM ; THAT ON THE RIGHT ONE CLEISTOGAHOUSLY FERTILISED. 



Phajus ; so that it is probable that the ridge in the latter 
plant may be the remnant of its rostellum adherent to the 
back of the stigma. 

Abundant on trees at 2000 feet above the sea, I gathered the 
dull-flowered Eria albido-tomentosa, remarkable for having its 
perianth densely covered with a felty mass of white wool. Its 
anther is separated by a rim-like rostellum from the broad and 
rather shallow stigma. Out of sixty flowers which I examined at 
various times, I did not find one otherwise than self-fertilised 
while still in the bud, by the viscid matter of the stigma swelling 



IN JAVA. 



95 



up and inundating, by the channels at the side of the rostellum, 
at least the most external pollen masses on each side. These 
pollinia emit their tubes over the rim of the rostellum, almost 
obliterating it, into the stylary canal. On the opening of the 
flower and the retraction of the anther-case, the most internal 
pollinia may sometimes be found in the condition of loose 
grains unaffected by the inundation of viscid matter. In its 
fertilisation this species of Eria seems to resemble Dendrobium 
chrysanthum. 

The mode of fertilisation described as occurring in Oplirijs 
ajrifera by Mr. Darwin, I found to be followed very closely by 
a species of Eria near to E. javensis, in which the anther-cap 
shrivels up backwards after rupturing, so as to disclose the 




FIG. 26, 



FIG. 26a. 



2G. — CHRYSOGLOSSUM SP. ; A, ANTHER-CAP ; B, POLLINIA IX SITU ; 0, 
STIGMA; D, UPPER MARGIN OF STIGMA; E, LOWER MARGIN OF 

STIGMA. FIG. 26A. SECTION OF SAME. THE VISCID MATTER FLOWS 

OVER THE MARGIN, D, INTO THE ANTHER. 



pollinia, which at once, even when quite shaded from wind and 
all other disturbances, begin a slow tortuous movement, during 
which they fall into their own stigmas, as seen in Fig. 23, p. 93. 
In a species of terrestrial orchid unknown to me, but nearly 
related, if not belonging to the genus Clirijsoghssum, I 
found these contrivances for effecting self-fertilisation carried 
to their extreme limit, by its fertilising itself without ever 
opening its florets at all (Figs. 25, 2G). I observed them in 
the forest, as well as grew a few of them in Mr. Lash's garden, 
and every specimen was fertilised in the same way. In opening 



OG 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



its locked-up petals, I found the labelluin beautifully marked 
with lines of purple, carmine and orange, and the column also ; 
but no insect eye could ever be fascinated or allured by its 

painted whorls. 

In the rather inconspicuous Goody era procera selt-iertilisa- 
tion takes place by the swelling up of the viscid matter of the 
stigma beyond its true boundary, till it touches, as seen in 
Fig. 28, the viscid disk of the pollinia, and spreads into the 
pollinia chamber. I have no doubt this takes place in many 
other species of Goochjera, and very probably also in our own 
Highland species, Goodyera repens. Other species which I have 




FIG. 28. 



GOODYERA TROCERA ; A, SWOLLEN FP CArDICLES OF POLLINIA (SOMEWHAT EXAG- 
GERATED) ; B, SPLIT ROSTELLUM, SHOWING IN FIG. 28 THE DISK OF POLLINIA ; 
C, STIGMA ; D, VPPER MARGIN OF STIGMA BEFORE STIGMATIC FLUID HAS BEGUN 
TO SWELL ; E, THE STIGMATIC FLUID SWOLLEN LP. 

not been able to designate by name presented similar or allied 
modifications for securing self-fertilisation. 

To me was especially interesting the purple Arundina, 
which one might imagine to have become tired of vainly 
displaying its beauty to wayward and inappreciate butterflies 
and bees, and had assumed a form that should — let all the 
glittering humming wings pass heedless as they would — per- 
petuate a fertile race. 

These instances go to show that the rule that " the flowers 
of orchids are fertilised by the pollen of other flowers " is not 
so universal as has been supposed. It is to be feared that too 
often the interesting cases of flowers observed to be cross- 
fertilised by insects have been recorded, while those of flowers 
otherwise fertilised have not been mentioned, so that the law 



IN JAVA. 97 

of cross-fertilisation in orchids has been in clanger of bein<* 
unduly magnified, from the absence of evidence on the other 
side. 

The estate of Kosala derives its name from the rounded hill 
above the house. The word, is of Sanscrit origin, but its 
meaning is unknown. It is a country along the bank of the 
Sarayu, forming a part of the modern province of Oude. It 
was the pristine kingdom of a solar race, and in the time of 
Buddha its principal city was Sewet (Sravasti). There is 
another Kosala in the Deccan (Dakshina Kosala) ; so Kosala 
or Kusala is the name of a land or a race. Ala occurs as a 
termination in many names of countries, but the root Kosli or 
Kush has such an immense variety of significations that it is 
impossible to find a good translation for it. 

The city of Sewet in Kosala was visited in a.d. 401 by 
the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Fah-hian, and where he saw 
the famous sandal-wood figure made by order of the king of 
Kosala. He found at some distance from the city a copse 
called Aptanetravana ("recovered sight"), where originally 
five hundred blind men lived who were restored to sight by 
Buddha. The blind men threw their staves on the ground, 
which forthwith grew up into trees and formed a sacred 
grove or copse. The name has most probably come down 
from Hindoo times to the present associated with some 
sacred legend whose influence hovers still over the spot ; 
for when the coffee gardens were being made the natives 
refused to fell the forest that grew on the Kosala hill, 
and only under compulsion could they then be persuaded to 
enter it. 

Under its shade there stand several mounds, blocks, and slabs 
which Mr. Lash conducted me one day to see. On entering 
the forest we were somewhat surprised to find a portion of the 
ground newly cleared of underwood from about several of the 
stones, and against them standing the remnants of small 
torches of sweet gums which had been offered before them. I 
felt certain that this was the work of none of the surrounding 
people who were afraid to enter the copse. 

I decided therefore to make a full survey of the buried 
ruins, and after some difficulty I succeeded in securing, for a 
consideration, the services of a youth who was willing to 



98 



A NATURALISTS WANDERINGS 



brave with me the wrath of the guardian spirits of the grove, 
and assist me in the sacrilegious work of hewing which my 
operations would entail. 

In the immediate neighbourhood, was discovered a bronze 
bell of undoubted Hindoo manufacture, its handle ornamented 
with the sacred bull, but without the clapper which had 
dropped from its ring; and within the boundaries of the 
grove stands a rude figure of the Buddha, with elevated finger, 
as if in the act of instructing. 

The ruins consist of terraces built up round the hill, which 
probably once encircled it entirely, but part of which has 
evidently extended where now the coffee plantation exists, 
and has been obliterated perhaps in the cultivation of forest 
patches by the natives in former periods. Only the portion 
surrounding for some distance that used by the worshippers has 




EGG-SHAPED STONE FROM THE EARANG'S GKOVE. 

been left unmolested. There the terraces are completely laid 
out in quadrilateral enclosures, their boundaries marked out by 
blocks of stone laid or fixed in the ground, which with singular 
exactitude lie within a degree of the true magnetic cardinal 
points. Here and there on the terraces are more prominent 
monuments— erect pillars surmounting oval piles of stones; 
flat slabs on the ground supporting egg-shaped blocks, which 
are distributed in many spots in such numbers and perfection 
of shape that to have made them or searched the brooks for 
them must have entailed a vast expenditure of time and 
trouble. Here and there also I found flat slabs raised on end 
and remains of circular paved areas, set round with upright 
blocks of stone. Specially noteworthy was a pillar, erect 
within a square marked out with stones on the ground, round 



IN JAVA, 99 

which the worshippers had plaited a fringe of Areng palm 
leaves. This same stone is thus decorated at every visit 
made by the worshippers to the sacred grove. 

At the base of two of the stones, where perhaps they have 
lain for unknown time, I found an earthenware jar, both of 
them somewhat broken, but of elegant shape and artistic 
design, not of ordinary native pattern or workmanship ; but, 
besides these jars, the egg-shaped stones and the image, all 
the monuments were of rough stone and without inscription or 
sign of handicraft. At the base of all the principal mounds 
and pillars I found remains of their offerings. 

I learnt that the worshippers belonged to the tribe called 
the Karangs or Kalangs, who lived in a village lying several 
days' journey to the southward. Four times a year a proces- 




EARTHENWARE POT FROM THE EARANG S GROVE. 

sion of old men and youths repairs, by paths known only 
to themselves, through the dense intervening forest in a diiect 
course by valley and mountain, to this sacred grove ; the old 
men to worship and make offering, the youths to see and 
learn the mysterious litany of their fathers. The old men lead 
the way ; the rest follow in single file, no one breaking the 
silence of their journey. Should any one be encountered by 
them on the way their pilgrimage is considered for that time 
unpropitious, and they return to their village to wait for a 
more favourable occasion. On their arrival with early 
morning at the grove they camp in a small hut, cleanse the 
ground about the sacred mounds, and perform during the 
night or on the following day the rites known to them- 
selves alone ; in the evening they take their departure to an 



100 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS. 



adjoining valley, where below a great overhanging rock they 
wait till break of next day, when they return home in a 
similar secret and silent manner to their coming. They all 
wear garments of cloth striped with black and white. 

Raffles* has given an interesting and full account of these 
people in his ' History of Java' from which I make the follow- 
ing extract : "They were atone time numerous in various parts 
of°Java, leading a wandering life, practising religious rites 
different from those of the great body of the people, and avoid- 
ing intercourse with them, but most of them are now reduced 
to subjection, and are become stationary in their residence, 
having embraced the Mahomedan religion. In a few villages 
their peculiar customs are still preserved. Although by tra- 




EARTIJENWARE POT FROM THE KABANG S GROVE. 



dition their descent is from a princess of Mendang, Kamulan, 
and a chief transformed into a dog, they have claims to be 
considered the actual descendants of the aborigines of the 
island. They are represented as having a great veneration 
for a red dog, one of which is generally kept by each family, 
which they will not permit to be struck or ill-used.f When a 
young man asks a girl in marriage he must prove descent 

* For additional information the reader is referred to Tijdschrift v. Ned. 
Ind. i. jaarg. ii. deel, p. 295 et seq.: iv. j. ii. 217; vii. j. iv. 335 et seq.; 
Bijdragen v. Ind. T. L. eu V.-Kunde, iii. Volgreeks, iv. deel. ; Indisches Maga- 
zine, 1845. 

f "According to the Zend Avesta, certain dogs have the power of protecting 
the departed spirits from the demons lying in wait for it on the perilous 
passage of the narrow bridge over the abyss of hell ; and. a dog is always led 
in funeral processions, and made to look at the corpse." — Macmil. Mag., 
" Village Life in the Apennines," June 1879. 



IN JAVA. 101 

from their peculiar stock. When the Kalangs moved from 
one place to another, they were conveyed in carts, with two 
solid wheels with a revolving axle, drawn by two pairs of 
buffaloes, according to the circumstances of the party. In 
these were placed the materials of huts, implements of 
husbandry, &c. In this manner, until forty or fifty years ago, 
they were continually moving from one part of the island to 
another. They have still their separate chiefs, and preserve 
many of their customs. They are treated with contempt by 
their Sundanese neighbours, so that ' Kalang ' is considered an 
epithet of contempt and disgrace." 

Living despised and secluded in villages apart by them- 
selves, they follow the rites and customs that have descended 
to them from their forefathers with the superstitious awe 
that comes of ignorance. The pillars in the centre of rudely 
circular heaps, as perhaps also the ovoid blocks resting on 
tablets and other shaped slabs, point no doubt to the celebra- 
tion here of phallic rites and to the worship of the Linga and 
Yoni, the emblems of Siva and Vishnu. It is interesting to 
find the goblets or vases at the base of the upright pillars; 
they point probably to the " mystic vessels or goblets in 
the hands of Siva in the image of this god in Indian temples 
in central Java." Not less significant is the upright stone 
decked with palm-leaf fringe, a symbol round which these 
rude and ignorant villagers, following their blind traditions, 
weave to this day hangings, "just as the women did for 
the Ashera in the Jewish temple, and the xUhenian maidens 
[following their old traditions] embroidered the sacred peplos 
for the ships presented to Athene at the Dionysiac festival " 

In standing under the forest amid these ancient remains, I felt 
as if I were having an unbroken view down the ages to distant 
antiquity ; these relics still warm, as they were, with the inter- 
mittent fires which have been kept alive from the dim 
past till now, and echoing with the footsteps of the rude 
worshippers who, unaffected by the incessant waves of change 
that have broken about them, are themselves as much ancient 
monuments as the very blocks of weather-beaten, lichen- 
matted trachyte, whose purpose is lost to their traditions, before 
which they torpidly mutter a litany they do not comprehend 



102 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



and listlessly perfume the air, they know not why, with the 
odours of their incense. 

Not far distant from the Karang dwellings lies the sacred 
village of Tjibeo, inhabited by the Badui, containing never 
more nor fewer than forty souls. If their number be increased 
by birth the overplus must go out and reside in one or other 
of three neighbouring villages ; if their number decrease the 
deficit must be made up from among the Outsiders, as they call 
these extraneous villagers. No foot but one of their own— not 
even of the highest European official — may cross the sacred 
boundary, which at some distance hedges the sanctity of their 
abodes. Like the Kodiyas of Ceylon, they eat carrion and the 
flesh of animals offensive to their neighbours ; flesh of buffalo 
they may eat, but they may not kill the animal themselves, 
and of fowl also if the life have not been taken by the letting 
of its blood, but by a stroke on the head. They wear only a 
short loin-cloth, whose colour must never be other than white 
striped with black.* In speaking to any one not of their 
own stock, of however high a rank he be, they use the 
pronouns by which a superior distinctly indicates that he is 
addressing his inferior. At various periods of the year they 
also pay mysterious and religious rites to rude venerated 
blocks of stone, arranged in terraces near their village. The 
Ealangs are probably an offshoot of the same stock as the 
Badui, though they are not reckoned among those outsiders 
who may be received to make up a deficiency in the sacred 
Forty of Tjibeo, nor do they worship at their shrines. On the 
high Tengger Mountains, in the east of Java, a colony with 
rites and customs similar to those of the Badui exists in all 
the isolation and opprobrium that a schismatic religion can call 
out. 

With the exception of the Karangs and the Badui, the 
entire population of Bantam profess the Mahomedan religion, 
which however seems to be merely a lusty and fanatical graft 
on the pagan superstitions of the ancient times. 

"A magnificent robe having been given to Gotama, bis attendant 
Ananda, in order to destroy its intrinsic value, cut it into thirty pieces and 
sewed them together in four divisions, so that the robe resembled the patches 
of a nce-fie!d, divided by embankments, and in conformity with this precedent 
the robe of every priest was similarly dissected and reunited."— Henry's 
'Eastern Monachism,' clwp. xii. p. 117. Can the striped garments of the 
Kalangs and Badui have any reference to the above tradition ? 



IN JAVA. 103 

On Mount Dangka and on the summits of many of the 
neighbouring hills I stumbled on groves containing either 
rocks naturally in situ, or stones that had been placed there, 
which my porters refused to enter for fear of being affected by 
some sickness or misfortune. " They are Patapahaan " (places 
of penance and worship), they would say, and are the sacred 
spots where they believe their ancestors who, refusing to 
embrace Mahomedanism, fled to the forests, vanished in invi- 
sible forms. Whenever calamity overtakes them — when their 
crops have failed or they are childless — they repair (in 
greatest numbers during the month of the chief Mahomedan 
fast — Ramadan) to these Tapa, where they will spend days 
of fasting and awesome terror, in the hope that the spirits of 
their transfigured forefathers will grant them the desire of 
their hearts. In dire sickness, when the slender list of their 
pharmacorjoeia has been exhausted, they will as a last resource 
send to gather lichens from the sacred stones of the despised 
Kalangs or the Badui, in the belief that a decoction therefrom 
will avail to ward off or heal their sickness. 

It is quite a common thing to encounter by the wayside 
near a village, or in a rice-field, or below the shade of a great 
dark tree, a little platform with an offering of rice and prepared 
fruits to keep disease and blight at a distance, and propitiate 
the spirits ever lying in wait in gloomy, sunless (and naturally 
depressing) spots to harm the passer by. This fear of lurking 
evil ever oppresses their lives. No one can be found brave 
enough to touch a man struck to the ground, for instance, 
by lightning; they will cover him up where he fell, with 
leaves or generally with stable dung, and commit his re- 
covery to nature. If he recover, well and good ; but to carry 
him from the spot, to lift him or meddle with him while un- 
conscious, would be to cry down the Avenger's displeasure on 
their own head. 

In the month of January 1880, Dr. Scheffer, the then Di- 
rector of the Buitenzorg Gardens, wrote to me that, as much 
virgin forest was being felled among the mountains not far 
from the Government Cinchona Plantations in the adjoining 
province of the Preanger, a good opportunity offered itself of 
increasing my herbarium. This was not a chance to let slip, 
so, bidding a reluctant farewell to Kosala, I set off for Buitenzorg 



104 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

by the direct foot-road through the forest. The only sound 
which disturbed the woods was the " Kaug-kang-kong " of the 
" bird of the rainy season," as the native has named a species 
whicli disappears or is silent during the dry monsoon — a bird 
I could never catch a sight of, however, notwithstanding my 
most warv stalking. 



IN JAVA. 105 



CHAPTER III. 

SOJOURN AT PENGELENGAN, IN THE PREANGER REGENCIES. 

Leave Buifcenzorg for the Preanger Regencies — Journey to Bandong in a 
Post-cart — Bandong — Thence to Pengelengan— Visit to the famous 
Cinchona Gardens of the Government — Plant-life in the surrounding 
mountains — The Upas tree — Crater flora — Land-slips and the power 
of rain — Interesting birds — The Badger-headed Mydaus — The Banteng, 
or wild cattle — Wild dogs — Leave Pengelengan for Batavia. 

After a few days of preparation for my new tour spent in 
Buitenzorg, I sent off my baggage to the Preanger in the care 
of a string of coolies, and secured for myself a seat at the mode- 
rate rate of twenty cents per mile in the mail-cart which every 
evening leaves Buitenzorg for Bandong. The mail-cart was 
not the most luxurious, but it was the cheapest and certainly the 
most expeditious way of getting over the ground. This cart was 
a rough edition of our own mail-gig — simply a box on wheels — 
whose cushionless and slippery top formed a most uncomfort- 
able seat, yet I would not have missed the ride for a good deal. 
We started with a couple of stout ponies yoked tandem-wise, 
and in place of side lamps our way was lighted by an immense 
torch made of splints of bamboo some seven feet long tied 
together, which a youth, who straddle-wise clung on behind, 
held to the wind to keep it ablaze. 

Our road lay over the Megamendoeng Pass, 4500 feet above 
the sea. At first the gradient was not very steep, and we 
proceeded at a fine pace. Towards every post-station, five 
miles apart all along the road, our progress was heralded by 
loud shouts, and by the louder shot-like whip-crackings that 
these drivers are famed for. At each station a halt of three or 
four minutes sufficed to put in the fresh horses standing ready 
for us, out blazed a fresh flaming torch, and our plunging and 
kicking steeds were off again, at a gallop which by voice and 
whip was not allowed to flag until we pulled up under the 



106 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



next station. By and by the ascent became steeper, and our 
team hud to be* augmented by the addition of a buffalo in 
front of our horses ; further up a second was added, till at last 
the equine was altogether discarded for the bovine element. 

Under the soothing evenness of their progress I might have 
dropped into a pleasant doze ; but the night was so beautiful 
that I preferred to enjoy the picturesque effect produced by 
the light of the torches on our team and their drivers— who 
were dressed in short red trousers, deep yellow jackets, and 
their tartan sarongs thrown sash-wise across their shoulders, 
and wore immense hats more than two feet in diameter ; and 
to lose none of the charm of the bright starlit night and the 
fire-flies that illuminated with their fitful light the borders 
of the forest through which we were ascending whose low moan 
was the only sound that broke the stillness of the night, for 
the driver had coiled himself up as best he could, and was fast 
asleep, and the buffalo-boys walked like mutes at a funeral. 

At about midnight we reached the summit of the pass, where 
it was so cold that I was glad to crouch by the fire of a small hut 
there, while the buffaloes were being changed. The place of 
the oxen was now taken by a single horse, which, urged at a 
pace more swift than safe, carried us down the mountain side 
into a warmer region in a very short time. The up-hill seat 
might have been more comfortable ; but the down-hill ride 
was interspersed with practical lessons in dynamics which 
rather tended to disagree with the general quiet order of one's 
internal arrangements, yet the sensation of being whirled 
along at such a rapid speed was full of exhilaration and great 
pleasure. At 3 a.m. we pulled up at our half-way house — 
the post-office at Tjandjoor — where I was checked off with the 
rest of the baggage which had been consigned to the driver at 
Buitenzorg, re-booked for the remainder of the journey, and 
handed over to the charge of a new Jehu to be delivered at 
his destination. 

Beyond Tjandjoor the road passed through a more level 
country, leading to the deep valley of the Tjitaroom. As 
there was no bridge over the ravine we were, on arriving at 
the near bank, assisted to alight by what seemed a regiment 
of walking torches, and with cart and horses transported on a 
bamboo raft to the further side, where two buffalo friends were 



IN JAVA. 107 

in waiting to haul us up the long steep bank out of the gor^e, 
beyond which the road was easy, and the horses, urged to their 
utmost speed, dashed along through village after village, 
rousing the dogs and awakening the sleepers. The night 
growing into day brought us one of the pleasantest portions of 
our drive. The grey tints of the short dawn passing gradually 
through many lovely hues into a delicate blue, and the fresh 
wooded landscape lit up by the morning sun more charmingly 
than at any other hour of the day, are the beauties, never 
wearying to the eye, that accompany the opening of a tropical 
day. At 8 a.m. we drew rein at Bandong post-office, having 
accomplished somewhat over eighty miles in thirteen hours. 

Bandong is the chief town of the Preanger Regencies, one 
of the largest and richest residencies in Java. In this province 
the Government has some of its most extensive coffee gardens, 
tobacco and cinchona plantations. The town is large and 
straggling, containing but few European houses; its most 
interesting building is the residence of the Eegent or native 
governor of the district. In front of his door is a great square, 
in the centre of which a giant fig-tree grows, beneath whose 
shade on high days the natives congregate to sport and to 
pay respect to the chief. Though some 2000 feet above the 
sea it is hot and close at all seasons, and is not a very pleasant 
place to live in. The larger part of the trading population is 
Chinese and Arab, the natives taking little or no part in it ; 
but the district is noted for its beautiful ornamental baskets 
of bamboo wicker-work. 

Bandong stands in the centre of an immense level plain 
hemmed in on all sides by very high mountains — most of 
them volcanoes — which discharge their streams into it, whose 
waters can find only one outlet, the Tjitaroom, which issues 
from the western angle and flows northward into the Java Sea. 
In prehistoric times this plain must have been one large lake, 
till, by the convulsions and eruptions of the volcanic peaks 
that banked it in, a gap was formed, which drained off the 
water, and turned its bottom into a fruitful field. On the 
whole one would have preferred the lake, and Java could then 
have boasted of one respectable fresh-water sea, a feature of 
beauty conspicuously and unexpectedly absent from so moun- 
tainous and volcanic a country. 



2 < iS A NATURALISTS WANDERINGS 

After resting a day in Bandong I proceeded to my destina- 
tion, some thirty miles farther to the south. For fifteen miles 
of the way it was possible to drive in a spring cart, which I 
hired in the town ; but the rest of the road, which rises to 4500 
feet, is very steep, and had to be accomplished on horseback. 

The road in the lower districts, shaded at short intervals by 
leafy Hibiscus trees, passed between hedges of bright yellow- 
purple- and red-flowering Lantana ; higher up broad patches 
of pink balsam (Impatiens), shady Albizzias, purple Bin- 
tino (Lagerstrsemia), tall tree-ferns and a shrubby species 
of Cassia bearing large trosses of bright golden flowers, were 
met with. A little higher a species of Datura, with broad 
leaves and large white trumpet-shaped flowers, suddenly 
became abundant. Being utilised by the natives as boundary 
hedges for their coffee-gardens, it formed by the size and 
abundance of its flowers a marked feature of the vegetation. 

Five or six hours of slow ascent brought us at last to Pen- 
gelengan, a small village lying at an elevation of 4500 feet 
above the sea, on an undulating plateau formed by the inner 
slopes of the Malawar, Wayang and Tilu mountains, whose 
summits range from 6000 to 7500 feet, and at several points 
command a view of the South Indian Ocean. On the out- 
skirts of the village was a comfortable and convenient Govern- 
ment bungalow, in which visitors to this rather out-of-the-way 
spot could, with the permission of the Resident (always wil- 
lingly granted), be accommodated for a time. Here I was in 
the centre of one of the great Government coffee districts, and 
in the vicinity of its cinchona plantations on the slopes of the 
surrounding mountains. 

One of my first visits was paid to the ' Bark ' gardens in order 
to see in a living state these famous trees, and especially that 
species with cream-coloured flowers, the Cinchona Ledger iana, 
which had attained so great a celebrity, and could in 1880 
be seen, excepting in our Himalayan gardens, almost nowhere 
else but in the Dutch plantations. It is now little more 
than thirty years since the Netherlands Indian Government 
began to cultivate cinchona. Their first seed was brought 
by Haskarl, of the Botanical Gardens in Buitenzorg, who 
had been deputed by the then Colonial Minister to visit 
Peru to see the tree in its native forests and brins: home 



IN JAVA. 109 

with him a collection of what seeds he could find. He was 
unfortunately very unsuccessful, and obtained seeds of only 
very inferior sorts. In 1S66 the Government purchased, for 
less than £50, a small quantity of seed of a supposed variety 
of C. calisaya sent from America by Mr. Charles Ledger. So 
well had this species been propagated that there were nearly 
one million trees, worth more than a million and a half of 
money, in the gardens, raised from the seed then purchased. 

It is well known that cinchona is so liable to hybridisation 
that it is very difficult to obtain pure seedlings from the seed 
even of pure trees, the offspring containing very often less 
alkaloids than their parents. An experiment, which has proved 
a great success, was made by Dr. Moens of grafting on the easily 
reared and quickly growing C. succirubra stems, shoots from 
the highest alkaloid-yielding trees. They have' been found to 
grow very rapidly and to reproduce pretty regularly the same 
proportion of alkaloids as the trees from which the grafts were 
cut. Of Mr. Ledger's variety, now raised to the rank of a new 
species by Dr. Moens, the seed-raised trees may be of many 
degrees of value, but all contain a far higher percentage of 
quinine than any other species. I gathered as a memento of 
my visit some flowers from trees whose bark yielded, with a 
trace only of any other alkaloid, the extraordinary amount of 
ten and even thirteen per cent, of pure quinine. Continued 
cultivation has therefore, it would seem, vastly developed 
the amount of quinine that these Ledgerianas contain, 
compared with what they yield in their native forests of 
Bolivia. 

The story of how the seed of this priceless tree (which can 
now be propagated ad libitum) reached the Old World is so in- 
teresting that I have extracted a few paragraphs from a letter of 
its introducer, Mr. Charles Ledger, in the Field of Feb. 5, 1881, 
addressed to his brother, evoked by an account of the Dutch 
Gardens I had contributed to the same journal in 1880 : 

" While engaged in my alpaca enterprise in 1856, a Bolivian 
Indian, Manuel Tucra Mamani, formerly and afterwards a 
cinchona bark-cutter, was accompanying me with two of his 
sons. He accompanied me in almost all my frequent journeys 
into the interior, and was very useful in examining the large 
quantities of cinchona bark and alpaca wool I was constantly 




110 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



purchasing. He and his sons were very much attached to 
me, and I placed every confidence in them. Sitting round our 
camp-fire one evening, as was my custom after dinner, convers- 
ing en all sorts of topics, I mentioned what I had read as to 
Mr. Clement R. Markham's mission [in search of cinchona- 
seeds]. Now Manuel had been with me in three of my 
journeys into the cinchona districts of the Yungas of 
Bolivia, where I had to go looking after laggard contractors 
for delivery of hark. It was while conversing on the subject 
of Mr. Markham's journey, and wondering which route he 
would take, &c, that Manuel greatly surprised me by saying : 
' The gentleman will not leave the Yungas in good health if 
he really obtains the Rogo plants and seeds.' Manuel was 
always very taciturn and reserved. I said nothing at the time, 
there being some thirty more of my Indians sitting round the 
large fire. The next day he reluctantly told me how every 
stranger on entering the Yungas was closely watched un- 
observed by himself; how several seed-collectors had their 
seed changed ; how their germinating power was destroyed 
by their own guides, servants, &c. He also showed me how 
all the Indians most implicitly believe, if by plants or seed 
from the Yungas, the cinchonas are successfully propagated in 
other countries, all their own trees will perish. Such, I assure 
you, is their superstition. Although there are no laws prohibit- 
ing the cinchona seed or plants being taken out of the country, 
I have seen private instructions from the Prefect in La Paz, 
ordering strictest vigilance to prevent any person taking seed 
or plants out of the country. More than half-a-dozen times I 
have had my luggage, bedding, &c, searched when coming out 
of the valley of the Yungas. [Mr, Ledger unsuccessfully 
attempted to communicate with Mr. Markham, who was not 
permitted to enter Bolivia.] * 

" You are aware how I am looked upon as a doctor by the 
Indians. Well, one day I said : • Manuel, I may some day 
require some seed and flowers of the famous white flower, 
rogo cascarrilla, as a remedy ; and I shall rely on your not 
deceiving me in the way you have told me.' He merely 
said, ' Patron, if you ever require such seed and flowers, I will 
not deceive you.' And I thought no more about it, 
* Cf. Markham's < Travels in Peru and India, 5 



IN JAVA. HI 

" Manuel was never aware of my requiring seed and leaves 
for propagating purposes; he was always told they were 
wanted to make a special remedy for a special illness. For 
many years, since 1844, I had felt deeply interested in seeing 
Europe, and my own dear country in particular, free from 
being dependent on Peru or Bolivia for its supply of life-givino- 
quinine. Remembering and relying on Manuel's promise to 
me in 1856, 1 resolved to do all in my power to obtain the very 
best cinchona seed produced in Bolivia. 

"His son Santiago went to Australia with me in 185S. In 
1861, the day before sending back to South America Santiago 
and other Indians who had accompanied me there as shepherds 
of the alpacas, I bought 200 Spanish dollars, and said to him : 
1 You will give these to your father. Tell him I count on his 
keeping his promise to get for me forty to fifty pounds of rogo 
cinchona (white flower) seed. He must get it from trees we 
had sat under together when trying to reach the Mamore 
river in 1851 ; to meet me at Tacna (Peru) by May 1863. If 
not bringing pure, ripe rogo seed, flowers and leaves, never to 
look for me again.' 

" I arrived back in Tacna on the 5th of January, 1865. I 
at once sent a message to Manuel, informing him of my 
arrival. At the end of May he arrived witb his precious seed. 
It is only now, some twenty-four years after poor Manuel 
promised not to deceive me, manifest how faithfully and 
loyally he kept his promise. I say poor Manuel, because, 
as you know, he lost his life while trying to get another 
supply of the same class of seed for me in 1872-3. You are 
aware too how later on I lost another old Indian friend, poor 
Poli, when bringing: seed and flowers in 1877. 

" I feel thoroughly convinced in my own mind that such 
astonishingly rich quinine-yielding trees as those in Java are 
not known to exist (in any quantity) in Bolivia. These 
wonderful trees are only to be found in the Caupolican district 
in eastern Yungas. The white flower is specially belonging 
to the cinchona ' rogo ' of Apolo. 

"You will call to mind, no doubt, the very great difficulties 
you had to get this wonderful ' seed ' looked at, even ; how a 
part was purchased by Mr. Money for account of our East 
Indian Government for £50 under condition of 10,000 



112 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



germinating. Though G0,000 plants were successfully raised 
from it by the late Mr. M'lvor, I only received the £50. 

" The seed taken by the Netherlands Government cost it 

barelv £50. 

« Such then is the ' story ' attaching to the now famous 
Cinchona Leclgeriana, the source of untold wealth to Java, 
Ceylon, and, I hope, to India and elsewhere. I am proud 
to see my ' dream ' of close on forty years ago is realised ; 
Europe is no longer dependent oil Peru or Bolivia for its 
supply of life-giving quinine." 

In my new locality I experienced, as at Kosala, the same 
difficulty in obtaining herbarium specimens of the great trees, 
with a better opportunity of verifying the fact that the bulk 
of those that had been felled were really barren. The fallen 
trunks, however, afforded an abundant harvest of ferns ; while 
on the surrounding mountains, several of them quiescent 
volcanoes, which were higher than any I had yet visited, I 
was happy in gathering many shrubs and plants which I had 
not before seen. Close to my door grew one, our common rib- 
grass (Plantago major), which I would have passed by at home 
as a rank weed, but I gathered it here with real affection, as 
much " for auld acqua'ntance sake," as in sympathy with its 
distant exile and inexorable durance, with a few compatriots, 
on these unquiet peaks, which the hot surrounding plains 
have made an island-in-an-island prison, more hopeless to 
escape from than the most ocean-compassed speck. At 4500 
feet above the sea I found a small species of Hypericum on 
wet ground, like our own Marsh St. John's-wort (II. ehdes) ; 
here and there, about 5000 feet, appeared purple violets 
(V. alata), increasing in abundance with the ascent through 
woods of magnolias and chestnuts, their stems clothed with 
orchids, Freycinetias, climbing aroids and lycopods, and on 
whose floor the dreaded Upas dropped its fruits. 

Beneath the shady canopy of this tall fig no native will, if 
he knows it, dare to rest, nor will he pass between its stem and 
the wind, so strong is his belief in its evil influence. 

In the centre of a tea estate not far off from my encampment 
stood, because no one could be found daring enough to cut it 
down, an immense specimen, which had long been a nuisance to 
the proprietor on account of the lightning every now and then 



IN JAVA. 113 

striking off, to the damage of the shrubs below, large branches, 
which none of his servants could be induced to remove. One 
day, having been pitchforked together and burned, they were 
considered disposed of; but next morning the whole of his 
labourers in the adjacent village awoke, to their intense alarm, 
afflicted with a painful eruption, wherever their bodies were 
usually uncovered. It was then remembered that the smoke of 
the burning branches had been blown by the wind through 
the village ; this undoubtedly accounted for the epidemic ; 
but it did not allay their fears that they were all as good as 
dead men, for the potency of the sap as a poison is but too 
well known to them. 

To prevent a general flight of the workmen it became 
necessary to get rid of the tree altogether, but the difficulty 
was to find any one willing to lay the axe to its root. At last 
a couple of Chinamen, after much persuasion and the offer 
of a high fee, agreed to perform the hazardous task of cutting 
up and carting it away. To the surprise of everybody they 
accomplished their task without experiencing the least harm. 
They pocketed their fee and departed in silence, without, 
however, saying that they had at intervals during their 
work, artfully smeared their bodies with cocoa-nut oil. 

The sap of the bark alone is hurtful, for the logs into 
which the stripped trunk was cut were made into furniture 
for the owner's dining-room, without ill effects to the carpen- 
ters. The bark of another denizen of the same forest — Gluta 
benghas, one of the Anacardiacese — contains a, sap even more 
noxious, for, falling on the skin, it produces stubborn ulcers 
which, on the woodcutters — who often get splashed on their 
arms and body — require months to heal ; but its sap is not 
used by them for poison, as the antiarin is. It is curious to 
reflect how acute native ingenuity has been in elaborating 
a pharmacopoaia abounding in subtle articles to waste or take 
away life, while it contains hardly one to preserve it. The 
action of some of these preparations, whose effects I had 
heard of as well as seen, astonished me vastly, but no bribe 
that I could offer was tempting enough to induce their old 
dukuns to disclose their composition. 

At elevations of 5000 feet Podocarpus trees (of the yew 
family), oaks and laurels formed much of the shade, under 



114 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



which flourished elegant Melastomas, with white instead of 
pink flowers, and raspberries (Ruins) of many kinds, the Mubus 

lineatus, a form with specially beautiful foliage, being abun- 
dant between 6000 and 7000 feet. On many of these moun- 
tains a single step Mould often lead the foot out of the green 
forest on to the edge of a great scar-like blotch, exuding 
sulphureous vapours through every crack and orifice, dis- 
figuring their verdant slopes, like a suppurating sore on a 
fair neck. Yet within the indurated margins of these smoul- 
dering craters, a flora specially and surprisingly interesting is 
to be encountered. Amid the very vapours of the fumaroles I 
gathered bunches of Ericaceous flowers, such as Gaultheria 
leucocarpa and -punctata, and Vaccinium jloribundum, their 
leaves loaded with sulphur and other deposits, but their 
flowers stiff with healthy waxiness and fragrant with their 
own sweet honey odour ; Dipteris horsjieldi and other ferns 
and plants, nowhere else to be seen on the mountain, grew in 
the steaming mud ; while Rhododendron retusum stretched its 
roots out into the fuming streams, which boiled and bubbled 
over out of the rumbling cauldrons below. 

The Dipteris fern is not found in Java much farther to the 
east. A line through the longitude of Samarang, which ap- 
pears to be its eastern boundary, is also the western limit of 
the teak (Tectona graniis), of the camphor tree (Dryobalanops 
camphora), and of several species of palms (Borassusjiabellifor- 
mis), and several species of Caryota and other trees, which are 
not found in West Java, though abundant in Sumatra. Mr. 
Wallace has pointed out how much he found the Ornithology 
of the eastern to differ from that of the western portion of 
the island; and among mammalia, I am told by intelligent 
natives, neither the rhinoceros nor the Badger-headed Mydaus 
crosses this boundary eastward. 

Outside the rim of the craters, where the ground had begun 
as it were to heal, broad patches of a beautiful species of lichen 
(Cladonia vulcanica) covered the surface, each tip of its pale 
grey thallus crowned with a fructifying scarlet disk. This 
is the lowly vegetation with which Nature, when a crater has 
become extinct, first slowly hides the wounds her strife has 
made, while scars made by landslips are concealed in a single 
season with a luxuriant covering of bananas. 



JN JAVA. 115 

During the rainy season the thunder of slopes laden with 
forest trees and shrubs crashing down, often for hundreds of 
feet into the valleys, was a daily sound, which impressed me 
with the supreme potency of rain as an agent in planing down 
the mountains and widening the valleys. I have often been 
astonished at the rapidity with which even a small stream will 
carry away the debris of a great landslip. When a heavy 
gale accompanies continued rains, the fall of giant trees on 
the narrowed ridges of mountains, is very often the cause of 
extensive landslips into both the adjacent valleys, which 
lowers down by very perceptible degrees their barrier ridges. 

Among the more interesting zoological objects of this 
district added to my collection, were the SipMa banjumcts,' 
a fairy fly-catcher of a beautiful azure blue, whose nest, a 
thing of beauty like itself, I found cunningly concealed and 
protected by the curled edges of a Bubus leaf and containing 
a delicate, pure white egg dotted over with brownish-red spots ; 
a sea-green magpie (Cissa thalassina), with brown wings, coral 
beak and legs ; and a handsome shrike (Laniellus leucogram- 
micus), known only from Java. Civet-cats were very abundant ; 
and the nocturnal scaly anteater or pangolin (Manis) was 
pretty often captured in the evening, while clumsily climbing 
on the trees, licking up with amazing rapidity streams of 
ants, which are its sole food — an interesting form especially 
to the embryologist and the genealogist, who find in its 
structures surviving " marks of ancientness," which have 
greatly helped to unravel the mammalian pedigree. 

Another slow prowler, the Mi/daus meliceps, very often made 
my evening hours quite unbearable by the intensely offensive 
odour with which, even in its most inoffensive frame of mind, 
it hedged its crepuscular walks for at least a mile round. It 
was no use to try to frighten it away, for if its equanimity were 
disturbed it did not haste to his lair as one could have desired. 
It thickened, instead, the very air with a malignant scent that 
clung to one's garments, furniture and food for weeks. Hors- 
field has stated that it is exclusively confined to mountains 
rising over 7000 feet, " and that on these it occurs with the 
regularity of some plants extending from one end of the island 
to other on the numerous disconnected summits." Its altitu- 
dinal distribution is, however, not nearly so restricted as here 



11G A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



stated, for I have encountered it on hills and hot plateaus at 
all elevations down to below 500 feet above the sea ; and it is 
said not to extend to East Java. The native has a superstition 
that if a man has fortitude enough to eat its flesh he will have 
become proof against sickness of all kinds. 

In the forests on the southern slopes of the Malawar and the 
Way an g, the banteng (Bos lanteng) lived in considerable 
herds. The full-grown animal has a magnificent head of 
horns, and I was very anxious to secure such a trophy ; but 
only after the most wary and patient stalking was I able to 
get within range of a herd of them, and then only of a calf 
with immature horns. No more bellicose and dangerous 
inhabitant of the forest than a wounded bull need hunter care 
to encounter. 

The baying of troops of Adjags or wild dogs often reached 
my ears, but in all my efforts to meet them in full hunt I was 
disappointed. The native accounts — repeated to me in Sumatra 
a year later, in identically the same terms — of their manner of 
hunting credits them with so much intelligence, if not reason, 
that I was anxious to witness the performance for myself. 
Their food is chiefly the Kanijil and the Muntjac deer, and the 
natives in both countries averred that, on discovering a patch 
of alang-alang grass in which these are hiding, the adjags first 
urinate all the grass in a circle round their fugitives, then 
drive them out, when, blinded and maddened by the pain of 
the pungent urine in their eyes, they fall an easy prey to the 
dogs. They are so exceedingly shy and wary that it is 
difficult to secure a shot, and I obtained only a single speci- 
men in bad condition. As soon as the fact became known I 
had quite a crowd beseeching for shreds of its skin, or if not 
that for a few hairs or some portion of its body, to suspend or 
to burn with a form of words near their rice-fields, as a charm 
to keep off evil influences from the crop. The whole of the 
carcase was cut up by them, distributed, and carefully carried 
away for this purpose ! 

Such forms of words are implicitly believed in, as I had an 
opportunity one day of learning from a dealer in krisses, who 
came to my house to trade. He was very anxious for me to 
buy a blade, and carefully showed me how to select one that 
would not fail me in time of need. To be a trusty weapon for 



IN JAVA. ]]7 

me, it ought to be especially made to some measure of my own 
body — of hand, arm or thigh, of the breadth of my two thumbs 
or of my span ; but to discover the same potency in a ready- 
made blade, I ought to divide a straw or a grass-stem, of equal 
length with the blade, into as many lengths as it contains of its 
own breadth at a distance from the hilt of twice the measure of 
the first joint of the thumb. These pieces laid on the blade 
alternately lengthwise and crosswise would reveal the suitability 
of the weapon for my use, by the direction of the last piece — 
crosswise it would indicate a fence — " a bar sinister " ; length- 
wise, no obstruction — a favourable omen. Another test was to 
measure its length by the breadth of my right and left 
thumbs alternately, repeating at each alternation one of the 
•words, " Sri, Lungu, Dunia, Bara, Pati, Sri," &c, and according 
to which of these words should fall to the last thumb-breadth 
would the blade be for me a wise choice or not. Sri beinjr a 
designation of honour, and Dunia, signifying the world, would 
therefore be good omens ; whereas Bara, meaning sickness, 
and Pati, death, would indicate misfortune, and the purchase of 
such a kriss would bring me disaster. In much the same way, 
I can recollect how as boys we used to augur our destiny by 
the number of buttons on our garments, — whether we were to 
become " a soldier, a sailor, a tinker, a tailor, a hangman, a 
lawyer or a thief." 

In the beginning of May I left my bungalow on this 
salubrious piateau on my return to Buitenzorg. Everywhere 
the golden rice-fields were dotted with harvesters, their 
lacquered hats resplendent in blue and gold, the brown 
shoulders of the men and the scarlet calicoes of the women 
and children in the midst of the yellow grain, forming bright 
pictures in the sunny landscape all along the way. 

After a few weeks in Buitenzorg and Batavia, spent in 
packing up and despatching my collections, I left for Telok- 
betong, in South Sumatra. 



118 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



APPENDIX TO PAET II. 



I Description of a new Bat from Java, of the genus Kerlvoula. By Old- 
field Thomas, F.Z.S., Assistant in the Zoological Department, 
British Museum. 

[From the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, for June 1880.] 

The specimen upon which this description is based was obtained by 
Mr. H. O. Forbes at Kosala, in Bantam, Java, 2100 feet above the sea, 
on the 21th of .September, 1879, and is now in the British Museum. 




Kekivoula javana. 

Fur greyish-black, each hair being nearly black for its proximal third, 
then white for the middle third, the end being black, with sometimes a 
shining white tip. Ears rather short ; laid forward they reach to about 
half-way between the eyes and the tip of the nose. Shape of ears and 
tragus exactly as in K. jugori, the former having the second small con- 
cavity in the middle of the outer edge, and the latter the deep horizontal 
notch above the external basal lobule described 
in that species, as shown in the wood-cut. Dis- 
tribution of fur as in K. papuensis, there being 
id/M short shining yellowish hairs thickly set along the 
j ^ii^fel'-'iv^i forearm, on the thumb quite to the claw, all along 
the second finger, on both phalanges of the third, 
and on the digital phalanges of the fourth and 
fifth fingers. There arc also a few hairs on the 
proximal end of the fifth metacarpal. The tail 
and the hind limbs quite to the bases of the 
claws are covered with similar hairs; the edge of the interfemoral, 
however, is without a fringe. The teeth are quite similar to those of 
K. jmpuensis. 

K. javana is thus intermediate between K. jagori, a Philippine species, 
and K. papuensis, from New Guinea, differing from the latter in the shape 
of the ears and tragus, and by tho absence of an interfemoral fringe, and 
from the former by the presence of fur upon the limbs, that species 
having these quite naked. It differs from both, however, in the tricolor 
character of the fur, as they are of a nearly uniformly dark reddish brown 
colour, though the tips of the hairs are lighter. 

Measurements of the type, an adult female in spirit: Length, head 
and body 1-93", tail T72", head 0-78", ear 06", tragus 37", forearm T53", 
thumb 0-27", third finger 30", fifth finger 22", tibia 072", foot 0-35". 



HEAD OF K. JAVANA. 



IN JAVA. 119 



II. On a new Genus of Spiders. By Bev. 0. P. Cambridge, M.A., C.M.Z.S., &c. 
(Extracted from Tne Proc. Zool. Soc, 1884, p. 196 et scjq.) 

Mr. H. O. Forbes has lately described {Proceedings of the Zoological 
Society, 1883, p. 580,) under the provisional name of Thomisus decipiens, 
the habits of a spider which he met with in Java. The spider itself is 
remarkable from its exact resemblance to the droppings of a bird ; and it 
is still more remarkable from the increased resemblance added in the 
spinning of a thin white web on the surface of a leaf, by means of which 
it secures itself, on its back, to the leaf, leaving its legs free to enclose and 
seize any insect unwittingly resting upon or crossing the apparantly 
innocuous bird-dropping. Mr. Forbes kindly sent me the spider for 
examination before writing an account of its habits. I immediately 
lecognised its near affinity to an East-Indian spider (TJiomisus tuberosus, 
Bl.), of which I possess the typo specimen ; but, unable at the moment to 
make a thorough examination and search through books and specimens, 
conjectured that it was allied to some spiders described by Dr. Karsch, 
and to one sent me some years ago from South Africa. A more complete 
examination since made has convinced me that these latter species 
(referred to by Mr. Forbes) belong to entirely different groups. I find, 
however, in my collection two other spiders, from Ceylon and Bombay, 
of the same genus and very closely allied in species, but quite distinct 
from that which Mr. Forbes notes. Upon these, together with the one 
last mentioned and Thomisus tuberosus,, BL, I have ventured to found a 
new genus, and I beg to record my thanks to its discoverer for so kindly 
sending me an example of Thomisus decipiens and for having also made 
known to us the very peculiar and interesting habits belonging, not only 
to that spider, but also, I have little doubt, to other closely allied 
species.* 

In his desciiption of the habits of T. decipiens, Mr. Forbes expresses 
the difficulty he has in understanding the formation by the spider of a 
web which, while serving to attach itself to the leaf, at the same time no 
exactly represents the fluid portion of a bird's-dropping spread out on the 
leaf around the more solid parts; and his concluding sentences seem to 
me to imply the conclusion that the spider consciously supplements the 
effects of natural selection on its form and resemblance to the solid ex- 
creta, by spinning a web to resemble the fluid portion. It seems to me, 
on the contrary, that the whole is easily explained by the operation of 
natural selection, without supposing consciousness in the spider in any 
part of the process. The web spun on the surface of the leaf is evidently, 
so far as the spider has any design or consciousness in the matter, spun 
simply to secure itself in the proper position to await and seize its prey. 
The silk, which by its fineness, whiteness, and close adhesion to the leaf 
causes it to resemble the more fluid parts of the excreta, would gradually 
attain those qualities by natural selection, just as the spider itself would 
gradually, and probably pari passu, become, under the influence of the 
same law, more and more like the solid portion. 

* Dolesohall (' Tweede Bijdragc tot do Kennis der Arachnidea van den In- 
dischen Archipel,' p. 58, pi. xi. figs. 9 and 9a) describes and figures, also from Java, 
a spider ( Thomisus dissimilis, Dol.) possibly of this genus, and perhaps nearly 
allied to T. dteipiens; but the description is too meagre and general to enable 
any certain conclusion to be drawn from it, and the ligure given of the eyes is 
totally unlike. 



120 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Fam. Thomisid^e— Ornithoscatoi'des. 

Cephahthorax short, broad, as broad or broader than long, moderately 
convex above and slightly tuberculosc ; caput short, truncate m front, and 
strongly compressed on its lateral margins. 

Eyes in two curved rows, the anterior shortest (the convexity of the 
curves directed forwards, and forming a crescent) ; small, not greatly 
differing in size, but the four laterals are largest, and the four centrals 
smallest ; those of the lateral pairs are seated on or at the base of tuber- 
culose eminences. 

Falces strong, not very long, conical, and nearly vertical. 

Maxilla; moderate! v long and strong, a little wider at the top than in 
the middle ; rounded' at the top on the outer side, and slightly leaning 
over the labium, which is about half the length of the maxillae, and of a 
somewhat oblong form rounded at the apex. 

Sternum oblong-oval. 

Legs strong, moderately long, 1, 2, 4, 3 ; those of the first and second 
pairs much the strongest and longest, but nearly equal in length ; those 
also of the third and fourth pairs are nearly of equal length and strength. 
All are somewhat roughened or tuberculose, especially those of the first 
two pairs, and furnished with spines of varied length and strength ; those 
on the tibise and metatarsi of the two anterior pairs are strongest, the 
longest forming two parallel longitudinal rows beneath the joints. The 
legs terminate with two strong, curved, pectinated claws, beneath which 
is a small claw-tuft. Among the spines are one or two not very long, 
rather strong, of a pale colour or semi-diaphanous appearance, on the 
upper sides of the femora ; these spines have a peculiar function as 
observed in one of the species, and may very possibly be of generic value, 
though spines of various sizes are found similarly situated in many 
other Thomisid genera, while their special function (if any) has not been 
yet observed, so far as I am aware, in other instances. 

The palpi terminate with a single pectinated claw. 

Abdomen broader behind than in front and truncated at both extemities; 
the upper surface and hinder part more or less thickly covered with 
round or subcorneal, shining, or other tubercular elevations. The spin- 
ners are short, stout, and closeh grouped within a somewhat circular 
sheath-like cincture much resembling the disposition of those of many 
Epeirids. 

OrNITHOSACATOIDES BEC1PIENS. 

Thomisus decipiens, Forbes, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 586, pi. LI. Adult female, 
length rather above GJ lines. 

The general colour of this spider is a hoary or yellowish ashy grey 
marked with black. The abdomen has a large, somewhat quadrate black 
patch at the middle of its hinder extremity; on this patch are placed 
eight shining roundish dark-brown tubercles; the four largest form a 
transverse, unequally-sided parallelogram at the fore part of the black 
patch ; the other four, which are much the smallest, form a longer trans- 
verse parallelogram immediately behind the other. At the hinder part 
also, on either side of the shining tubercles, are several strong tuberculi- 
form eminences or prominences, of a similar kind to which are also four 
small ones in a transverse line at the extreme fore margin ; some other 
depressed spots or pits arc also disposed on the upper surface, with a 
dark blackish suffused patch at the middle of the anterior extremity, and 
another on each side just in front of the foremost lateral eminence. 



IN JAVA, 121 

The cephalothorax has a black irregular patch on each side of the 
hinder part of the thoracic region. The ocular region is somewhat 
suffused with blackish, and an irregular black, somewhat V-shaped 
marking indicates the junction of the caput and thorax. The two 
anterior pairs of legs have some black suffused markings on the upper 
side of the femora, the fore half (or rather more) of the tibiae, the meta- 
tarsi, and tarsi of those two pairs being almost wholly black ; while the 
two hinder pairs have only an irregular black marking here and there. 

The spines on the tibia? and metatarsi of the first and second pairs of 
legs are numerous, lcng, strong, and conspicuous. 

The pale ones (mentioned above) on the upper sides of the femora are 
used, according to Mr. Forbes's observations, to secure the spider on its 
back to a patch of whitish silk spun upon the surface of a leaf. When so 
secured the spider has the exact appearance of the droppings of some 
bird, and the white silk patch emerging irregularly outside the spider has 
the appearance of the more liquid portion of the droppings flowing out 
an I drying on the leaf.* 

The eyes of each row respectively are equidistant from each other, but 
those of the fore-central pair form a shorter line than those of the hind- 
central pair. The four central eyes form a square whose anterior side is 
the shortest; and the height of the clypeus, which projects forwards, 
is nearly about equal to half that of the facial space. 

The legs are, as described in the generic diagnosis, strong and minutely 
tuberculose, the tibiae being of a peculiar bent form. 

A single example was found by Mr. Forbes in W. Java, and at a later 
period a second on the Musi Kiver, Sumatra 

* Mr. Forbes has, since the above was printed, remarked to me that in the two 
instances which came under bis notice, the resemblance extended even to tho 
running down of the fluid excreta towards the lower side of the sloping leaf, 
ending in a kind of knob. Mr. Forbes also expressly disclaimed the idea of 
crediting the spider widi any conscious design, but he says that "the similitude 
is so exact, that the spider might have had consciousness, and it could not have 
been more exact if the spider did have it." Is not its exactness probably tho 
result of the unconsciousness of the spider? Conscious design would possibly 
have resulted in failure and abandoning the plan, or at least in a more clumsy 
imitation. 



PART III. 
IN SUMATRA. 






106 




CHAPTER I. 

sojourn in the lampoxgs— continued. 

Leave Batavia for Telok-betong — Lampong Bny — Telok-betong — Leave fur 

Gedong-tetahan — Forest scenery by the way — Escape from a tiger 

Flowers in the forest — Gedong-tetahan — Birds and insects there— Move 
to Kotta-djawa — The village— Ruthless destruction of the forest— Trees 
— Entomological treasures — Move to Gunung Trang — The pepper trade 
— Birds there — Interesting butterflies. 

Embarking at Batavia on the morning of the 18th of No- 
vember, 1880, our course lay westward through the Thousand 
Islands into the Straits of Sunda, where, rounding the base 
of the Rajabasa volcano, we steamed up the Lampong Bay, 
between its scalloped shores girt by high hills — the southern 
fork of that unbroken chain which, commencing in the north 
of the island, runs down the western coast, and trifurcates 
before reaching the extremity of the island to form two bays, 
on the west Kaiser's Bay, and on the east Lampong Bay. 
As we steamed under the shade of these peaks, the sun went 
down tinging the crests on our left with gold, and those on 
our right with the richest purple. 

Before we dropped anchor off the little town the full moon 
had come out ; and one can scarcely say which was fairer, the 
sun-lit panorama of the day's sail, or the moon-lit landscape, 
with the pale, soft light on the hills, whose slopes guided 
the eye clown to the white circle of the shore-line, on which 
the palm-trees, everywhere dotting its margin, had their 
crowns transformed into flashing plumes of silver. 

Telok-betong is the chief town of the Lampong Residency, 
which forms the most southerly province of Sumatra. Be- 
sides the Resident and the chief administrative civil officers, 
the only other European inhabitants were the commandant, a 
couple of lieutenants, and a surgeon Dr. Machik, an enthusi- 
astic ichthyologist and conchologist, in charge of a native gar- 
10 



s th* £m»*tf» Airicp^W/- ' 




/ N D I 



o c /-: 



SKETCH MAP 

SOUTH SUMATRA 

shewing the Author's route 

Home thus — ■* — ■ 

ENGLISH MILES ____ 



I'll,- hotut,i.tr\- &JU ofxh.- Ml ..... ■'. 01 ' ■ - I d >' ■ 

■ 

indica vuri ■ 



10S lonsitude EAstiroro Creenwch 104 



Harper fe, Brothers NewYork: 



126 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



rison of some 200 men. In addition to the true natives of the 
town, there was a large campong of Chinese, a few Arabs, with a 
considerable fluctuating population of traders from Borneo and 
Celebes, and other islands of the Archipelago. The Buginese 
or Celebes men are by far the most skilled navigators, and the 
greatest traders of them all ; Macassar praxis being famous 
throughout the Eastern seas for their voyages made without 
compass, yet rarely with mishap, from the eastern coasts of 
New Guinea to the Indian Ocean in the west, trading in their 
native-made cloths, in the lovely lories which they bring from 
east of their own shores, and in the native Macassar oil. The 
town was, therefore, before its destruction by the terrible 
earthquake wave of August 18S3, inhabited by a rather hete- 
rogeneous collection of islanders ; and, in consequence of each 
race building their domiciles according to the fashion in their 
own country, it was very irregular ; but what it lost in this 
respect it gained in picturesqueness. It stood but little above 
the level of the sea, on a low narrow flat, which intervened 
between the shore and the very abruptly rising hills, on whose 
slope are situated the Government offices and some of the Euro- 
pean residences, commanding a most lovely view of the bay. 

One cannot examine a map of Sumatra without being struck 
by the singular disposition of the land. Along the whole 
length of the west coast is found, as already remarked, a long 
range of mountains with their outliers, while to the east of 
the Barisan, as this range is named, not a mountain, and 
scarcely even a hill, is to be seen. The entire eastern portion 
is one vast plain, of which immense tracts often lie at a time 
under water— the word Lampong signifies " bobbing on the 
water." One may travel in some parts in a straight line west- 
ward from the east coast for 150 or 200 miles without reach- 
ing an elevation of over 400 or 500 feet, while some 30 miles 
farther the Barisan peaks may ascend to over 10,000 feet. 

After a short stay in the town, I started for Gedong-tetahan, 
some twenty miles north, provided by the Resident with a man- 
date to the chiefs of the various margas or districts through 
which my road lay, commanding them to render me every 
assistance. In Java the traveller has to look out for his own 
coolies, with whom he makes his own terms as to distance and 
remuneration, and finds no difficulty in so doing ; but here, the 



IN SUMATRA. 127 



people being more lethargic, not a single individual would be 
got to volunteer to work, however tempting the hire, but for 
a Government enactment, then in force, that the chief of 
each village be responsible for the conveyance of the baggage 
of all officials and persons travelling under the authority of 
the Government from his own village to the next. Where 
villages lay close together, much time was lost by changing, 
and as within a considerable radius of the coast they dotted 
the wayside at every half mile or less, progress was distressingly 
slow and wearying to the temper as well as to the flesh ; for, 
notwithstanding the order sent forward in advance, the coolies 
were never on the spot ; one had gone to eat, another had gone 
in search of his knife, without which no one will stir, another 
had been taken sick quite suddenly, and such as were waiting 
were ready to swear that the baggage was twice the regulation 
weight — 80 to 90 lbs. — and they would not touch it. 

Before many of the houses which I passed were spread out 
drying in the sun large quantities of pepper, what I saw repre- 
senting alone a sum of money sufficient to feed their whole 
families for nearly eighteen months. Were cockfighting and 
gaming not ingrained in them as a second nature, these people 
might amass great fortunes for their condition of life. Some 
do, indeed, hoard up considerable sums ; but one had only to 
look on the children and young girls to see where a great deal 
of it went. Every girl is arrayed in sinkels or necklets, of 
various shapes of heavy silver, few or many, according to the 
wealth or position of her parents ; on their arms rows and 
rows of bracelets, and in their ears large button-like earrings. 
These ornaments are the sign of a girl's maidenhood, and 
are worn till she marries. The wealth of a Lampong lady is 
thus estimated by the number and weight of her ornaments, 
which are, however, fully displayed only on feast days and 
high occasions. Most of these ornaments are made by native 
silver- or gold-smiths, and are purchased weight for weight in 
silver or gold as the case may be. 

After the first few villages were passed, my road lay mostly 
between dense forest, extending for miles on botli sides of the 
way. The trees were magnificent in shape and foliage — giant 
pillars, seventy and eighty feet without a branch, supporting 
superb leafy crowns under whose shade a thousand men might 



128 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



bivouac, with trunk and limbs entwined and warped, often even 
to fatal strangulation, by an impossible unravelment of lianes 
and huo-e climbers, which hung in coils and loops, and stretched 
from tree to tree for hundreds of yards, themselves adorned 
as with finely curving scroll work, with ferns and orchids 
and delicate twining epiphytes. Beneath this shade a second 
forest grows of lesser trees, below which again a dense thicket 
of low shrubs and herbs, Caladiums, and broad-leaved Scita- 
minese (or Ginger family) and of horrid thorn- and hook- 
bearing rattan-palms, climbing and holding on to everything, 
blocking up every unoccupied space— the whole forming an 
impenetrable wall of vegetation. 

In this same portion of the road, a few weeks later, while 
returning from the coast, on horseback alone and unarmed, 
on a pitch dark night, I had a narrow escape from a tiger. 
My horse suddenly snorted in a strange manner, and came 
to a dead stop with its feet planted in the ground, then 
reared back ; at the same moment the great body of a tiger 
shot close past my face and alighted with a heavy thud in 
the jungle on my other side. Haunted with the idea that I 
was perhaps being stalked, the night became doubly dismal to 
me. My horse, a miserable pony at best, was so terror-stricken 
as to be almost useless, and the seven miles that I traversed 
before the light of my own dwelling flashed on me seemed 
the longest I ever rode. 

Mr. Wallaces truthful works have, or ought to have, now 
dispelled the erroneous ideas about the wonderful profusion of 
fine flowers existing in the tropics. This is just one of the 
products of " the summer of the world " that the traveller fails 
to see unless he search very well and very closely. The great 
forest trees are too high for one to be able to see whether they 
bear either fruit or flowers. It is only on rare occasions — and 
then the sight repays him for many a weary mile — that he 
alights on a grand specimen, whose top is a blaze of crimson 
or gold ; more generally he knows that some high tree, which 
of many it is often very difficult to say, is performing its func- 
tions by seeing broken petals or fallen fruit spread over yards 
and yards of the ground. Of the great mass of lower vege- 
tation nothing is seen but green foliage. Hours and hours, 
sometimes days even, I have traversed a forest-bounded road„ 



IN SUMATRA. 129 



without seeing a blossom gay enough to attract admiration ; 
far oftener I have stopped to pluck a gorgeous fruit. A vast 
amount of tropical vegetation has small inconspicuous flowers 
of a more or less green colour, so that when they do occur 
the eye fails to detect them readily. The fresh green, the 
rich pink, and even scarlet of the opening leaves are beautiful 
beyond description, and the autumn-tinted foliage never ceases 
through all the seasons, and with so much colour one is quite 
content to forget the absence of flowers. 

On the passing traveller, therefore, the vegetation at the lower 
elevations leaves the impression of a tangled heterogeneous 
mass of foliage of every shape and shade mingled together in 
such unutterable confusion, that not one single plant stands 
out in anything like its own individuality on his mind. 

Every now and then a curve of the road brought me on a 
colony of Siamang apes (Siamanga syndactyla), some of them 
hanging by one arm to a dead branch of a high-fruiting tree 
with eighty unobstructed feet between them and the ground, 
making: the woods resound with their loud barkinsr howls. 
The Siamang comes next in size to the Orang-utan, which is 
the largest of the great apes living in this part of the world, 
and which is found elsewhere only in the Malacca peninsula, 
the Orang-utan being confined to Sumatra and Borneo. 

The Siamang is a very powerful animal when full grown, 
and has long jet-black glancing hair. In height it stands 
little over three feet three or four inches, but the stretch 
of its arms across the chest measures no less than five feet 
five to six inches, endowing it with a great power of rapid 
progression among the branches of the trees. Its singular 
cry is produced by its inflating, through a valve from the 
windpipe, a large sac extending to its lips and cheeks, situated 
below the skin of the throat, then suddenly expelling the 
enclosed air in greater or less jets, so as to produce the singular 
modulations of its voice. 

Gedong-tetahan proved a very unfavourable hunting 
ground, as it was surrounded by unprofitable alang-alang 
fields. Nevertheless, I obtained some interesting birds. 
Among them I secured the crested bee-eater (Nyctiomis 
amicta), a beautiful creature with rose-coloured head and a 
throat of a rich shade of vermilion, which preferred the open 



130 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



wayside trees to the dense forest shade ; Rhocloclytes diardi, 
one of the cuckoo family, with a light green bill, and velvet 
scarlet eye- wattle ; and green and black barbets, whose peculiar 
and incessant cries filled the air. 

In the open paths and sunny roads I netted scarlet Bieridse 
(Appias nero), often flying in flocks of over a score, exactly 
matching in colour the fallen leaves, which it was amusing to 
observe how often they mistook for one of their own fellows 
at rest, and to watch the futile attentions of an amorous male 
towards such a leaf moving slightly in the wind. Among the 
Pieridse, it has been said by Mr. Wallace that the male is as 
a rule more conspicuous than the female ; but in this genus 
Applets — with the exception of a little more black in the female, 
the sexes of Appias nero are alike— the female is really, fre- 
quently, more conspicuously marked, and attracts the eye on 
the wing quite as readily as the male. Nearly all the species 
of CaUilryas and Catopsilia, as Mr. Butler has pointed out to 
me in specimens in the British Museum, have the females more 
conspicuously marked than the males. Hebomoia glaucippe 
and its allies may be instanced, and the genera Ganoris and 
Belenois, as for example B. eudoxia and B. theora, in the latter 
of which only the female has the front wings orange. 

From Gedong-tatahan I moved a little further west to Kotta- 
djawa. All along the way crowds of Buceros birds kept con- 
stantly flying overhead with their peculiar noisy scream and 
the breeze-like whirr of their wings, while from far in the woods 
came the softer koo-ow of the Argus pheasants, than which, 
among all the feathered tribes, scarcely any bird is lovelier. 
In Sumatra, the Argus occupies the place held in Java by the 
Peacock— a bird belonging to the same natural family — which 
seen in its native wildness is unsurpassed for brilliancy of 
colour and decorative appendages, but its ornamentation is too 
gaudy for long contemplation ; while in the case of the Argus 
Pheasant one may admire feather by feather, and the same 
feather again and again, and daily see new beauties. The tail 
of the peacock is formed by a great development of what is 
technically known as the upper tail coverts, while that of the 
Argus pheasant is formed chiefly by an enormous elongation 
of the two tail quills and of the secondary wing feathers, no 
two of which are exactly the same ; and the closer they are 




4.-* 
| 







IN SUM ATI? A. 131 



examined, the greater is seen to be the extreme chasteness of 
their markings, and their rich, varied and harmonious colouring. 
When alarmed the Argus escapes by running through the 
thick underscrub, when the brilliancy of its plumage, by bein°- 
gathered close about its body, is quite concealed. 

Till I had observed it at a later period, I was not aware of its 
habit of making a large circus, some ten to twelve feet in 
diameter, in the forest, which it clears of every leaf and twig 
and branch, till the ground is perfectly swept and garnished. 
On the margin of this circus there is invariably a projecting 
branch or high-arched root, at a few feet elevation above the 
ground, on which the female bird takes its place, while in the 
ring the male — the male birds alone possess great decoration — 
shows off all its magnificence for the gratification and pleasure 
of his consort, and to exalt himself in her eyes. It is a strange 
fact that when the male bird has been caught — these birds 
are much trapped by the natives, their excessive shyness 
making it almost impossible to shoot them — the female in- 
variably returns to the same circus with a new mate, even if 
two or three times in succession her lord should be caught. 
The female bird is rarely caught, owing to her flying to her 
roost when approaching the circus, while the great winged 
males walk into the ring, which the native skilfully barricades 
all round except the one spot where he sets his snare. 

The houses in Kotta-djawa at first sight looked as if they 
were all roof and no body, for the broad thatched slopes and 
gables reached down to within five or six feet from the ground, 
where they projected out somewhat horizontally, so as to leave 
a free space all round the square bamboo or bark-made, box- 
like, propped-up edifice, in which, protected from sun and rain, 
most of the rice-stamping and other household operations were 
performed. In south Sumatra, though rivers abound, and 
there is much level land, the natives, till very recently, took 
always their rice crops from forest land, which produces a far 
less return of grain, of a quality, too, much inferior to sawali 
(or wet-field) grown corn. To make this ladang the native 
goes after the virgin forest, leaving his old fields to produce a 
new crop of trees, if the alang-alang grass does not get the 
upper hand. 

The virgin woods contain the really interesting and valu- 



132 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



able vegetation of the country; these trees being, to a great 
extent,°the lineal descendants of the vegetation that has 
always existed on the island since it came into its present 
condition at least. Perhaps indeed some of the aged giants 
may have actually witnessed the young days of the present 
o-eological cycle. In the virgin forest death and decay are 
just as rapid as anywhere else ; individual trees are constantly 
falling out of the ranks, but their place is taken by younger 
members either of the same or of neighbouring species. 
When, however, this ancient forest is devastated to any 
great extent, either by natural means or by the woodcutter's 
axe, the trees that arise belong to a different lineage, the new 
wood is in great bulk of different species, which, strange to say, 
were but rarely to be found in the old forest. 

As in Java the original forest is rapidly disappearing ; each 
year sees immense tracts felled for rice fields, more than is 
actually necessary, and also much wanton destruction by wilful 
fires. Trees of the rarest and finest timber are hewed, half burned, 
and then left to rot ; amid their prostrate trunks a couple of 
harvests are reaped, then the ground is deserted, and soon fills 
up with the fast-growing and worthless woods, or falls a prey 
to the ineradicable alang-alang grass. Our children's children 
Avill search in vain in their travels for the old forest trees of 
which they have read in the books of their grandfathers; 
and to make their acquaintance, they will have to content 
themselves with what they can glean from the treasured 
specimens in various herbaria, which will then be the only 
remains of the extinct vegetable races. 

In every clearing, trees, from their gigantic size, have here 
and there escaped the axe, and been allowed to stand un- 
molested. One cannot resist a feeling of pity for the solitude 
of these towering monarchs, whose grandeur, concealed as they 
stood amid the multitude of their peers, can now be seen in 
all their stateliness. They look the very picture of strength and 
immobility ; yet, though they have withstood, in the company 
of their fellows, the storm and sun of centuries, they survive 
their solitude but a very few seasons, getting feebler year by 
year, one great limb after another dying and dropping off, till 
all life ceases, when some lightning flash or sudden blast 
measures their noble stems on the ground. 



IN SUMATRA. 133 



To obtain specimens of the ancient arboreal race was a task 
slow and difficult of accomplishment ; for but few trees could be 
felled in one day, and good eyes were required to tell at a 
height of 150ft. or 200ft. if there were fruit or flower to reward 
the labour and time spent in the operation ; and when, after 
hard toil, a great tree came crashing down, letting in the 
sunlight on the damp ground, the beauty of the foliage and of 
the flowers or fruit was often a rich recompense for the labour. 
It was a happy thing, that such a giant could not fail to 
bring to the ground portions of one or more of his neighbours 
in his downfall, large enough to afford grand specimens. 

No one could fail to be attracted by the at first unusual 
sight of trees bearing their blossoms, or fruit, or both, in great 
profusion on their bare trunks. Of these the oftenest recurring 
belong to a group producing some of the most beauti-ful trees 
and shrubs in the world, the Ternstroemacese, or Tea-family, 
to which the Camellia belongs. The pendent pure white or 
pink-flushed, golden-centred corollas of the Saurayas, cluster 
round their trunks, hiding them for twenty or thirty feet of 
their height, like maypoles busked for a fete. Besides orchids 
and the Asclepiadacew which contain the wax-plants, or Hoyas, 
the brightest epiphytes were certainly the species of JEschy- 
nanthes, many of which have drooping bell-flowers of the 
deepest scarlet. 

Zoological prizes had just as diligently to be searched for as 
botanical trophies ; as in the case of flowers, insects, birds and 
other animals do not wait, even in the profuse tropics, at every 
blossom, or on every branch for the collector's net and the 
hunter's gun. In the depths of the virgin forest little life is to 
be seen ; there, an oppressive silence reigns. One hears occasion- 
ally only a distant note from some bird or mammal, or the stridu- 
lating of a dead on a tree trunk far out of eye-shot, and in the 
second growth, if these are more abundant as the ear asserts, 
they are as difficult, from numerous obstacles to sight and 
progress, to see or secure. The ornithologist and the entomo- 
logist obtain most of their treasures in the small virgin forest 
patches in the neighbourhood of villages, in wide shady paths 
in the great forest, and along sunny walks amid the opened 
portions of the second growth. 

I was fortunate in finding a little of all this description of 



134 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



country at Kotta-djawa. My favourite resort was the sunny 
pathways, bordered by second growth forest of some size, 
where manv attractive Mussaendas, euphorbiaceous trees and 
shrubs, and thick clumps of the aromatic and brightly varie- 
gated Lantana, were always in flower. 

The Lantana was one of the greatest favourites of most kinds 
of insects ; beetles, bees, and butterflies were always present by 
scores ; and I observed that they visited the different coloured 
florets quite indiscriminately. Of the last the swallow-tailed 
species — Papilio brama, theseus, anjcles, arjuna, and a lovely 
black-and-white species which is known as Papilio saturnus 
— were specially abundant, but difficult to secure, as they were 
greatly persecuted by all the other species feeding on it — the 
Pieridze and the dragon-flies being their worst enemies. 
They constantly sailed round and round in a timid way, as if 
watching for an opportunity to swoop in, but were often so 
driven off that for half an hour at a time I have seen them 
unable to make one successful visit. The beautiful tailed 
Loxuras and Aphnseus were also in abundance, while Hypolymnas 
anomala frequented the thick jungle, floating out at intervals 
into the open. "This species offers the most remarkable 
case known among butterflies of a reversal of the usual sexual 
colouring, the male being always dull brown and the female 
glossed with rich blue . . . The brilliant blue gloss causes the 
female to resemble or mimic Euplsea midamus" (Wallace). 
Mr. Butler has shown me in the British Museum, however, 
males with nearly as much blue as the females. It is 
singular that no male of this species is yet known from Java. 
Specimens in the British Museum, named by Mr. Wallace as 
males of Anomala, are not from Java. Undoubted males from 
Malacca and Borneo have broad patches of blue towards the 
border of the front wings. The female Anomala from Java has 
more blue than the specimens of the same sex from Borneo, 
and it is not improbable that the Java male may have more 
blue than the Bornean. What appears to be a female, named 
HypolymnasicaUaceana by Mr. Butler from ' India,' corresponds 
with the male H. anomala (of Wallace's description) in the 
British Museum from Borneo. The Euplrea which these species 
mimic is common to Indo-Malasia. 

From Kotta-djawa I moved further westward to Gunung- 



IN SUMATRA. 135 



Trang, the chief centre of the pepper and dammar trade, where 
there was more high land and virgin forest. From this village 
alone in the height of the pepper season more than fifty pony 
loads go every week to the coast, each carrying 1J piculs, 
or 219 Amsterdam pounds weight. It is rare that single 
loads are sent down to the coast, generally a small troop goes to- 
gether, and the village square presents rather an exciting scene 
in the early morning of a despatch of cargo. The strong but 
wofully skinny creatures have, like their masters, little relish 
for hard work, and conduct themselves in the most refractory 
manner possible — objecting first of all to be caught, then 
resenting with teeth and limbs the impost of pack-saddle and 
bags. When, however, the last cord has been adjusted, after 
many imprecations and Allah-il- Allans from the pack-master, 
they give in to the inevitable with perfect grace, marching 
off as docilely as possible generally behind a belled leader, 
and thereafter require little or no attention. 

The price obtained for this amount of pepper at the coast 
amounts to about £118, no mean amount per week (during 
the season) for a small village, whose only outlay consists in 
the cost of food and the Government tax of one guilder per 
head. It takes seven or eight years for a new pepper garden 
to reach maturity, but when it is in full bearing, each shrub 
will yield as much as 10s. 8d. worth of fruit in a season. 

The other great industry of the place is dammar collecting. 
This substance, as is well known, is the resin which exudes 
from notches made in various species of coniferous and 
dipterocarpous trees. Some of these, especially of the latter 
family, are immense giants, out of whose stem — which often 
reaches 100 feet before branching — the native cuts large 
notches, at intervals of a few feet, up to a height of some 
forty or fifty feet from the ground. The tree is then left for 
three or four months, when, if it be a very healthy one, suf- 
ficient dammar will have exuded to make it worth collecting; 
the yield may then be as much as ninety-four Amsterdam 
pounds. Most trees, however, exude a far less quantity and 
require a longer time. 

The damar attain (from the H>pea dryobcdanoides and other 
Dipterocarpete, and not from the Dammara (Coniferx) ), a beau- 
tiful clear glass-like substance —the " eye dammar;' as the 



136 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



native name signifies— is the most prized, and fetches about 
two guineas for 125 Amsterdam pounds. The greater part of 
this o-oes to the European market, to be made into varnishes 
principally, and is purchased at the coast by the Chinese 
traders, who in turn carry it to Batavia and Singapore to 
resell it. A much inferior sort called " stone-dammar : ' got 
from Vatka < ximia, also one of the Dipterocarpese, is worth about 
2s. (id. only per 125 Amsterdam pounds, and is purchased at 
the coast by the Bugis from Celebes and the Bawean men 
from near Borneo, to be used by the native prau-builders to 
fill up seams and leaks. The thick, close, tough bark of the 
tree, however, is a much more valuable commodity, for, as it 
can be stripped off in immense sheets, it is greatly used 
instead of planks or the more open bamboo Avickerwork, as 
sides for their houses, and is an excellent substitute. 

The native distinguishes his pepper shrubs and his dammar 
trees from all other sorts by the expressive title of pohone 
vang, or money trees. The pepper (calamitously, he holds,) 
does not grow wild in the forest in any way suitable to his 
desire, but must be planted and tended. The dammar 
requires no such care ; and as he roams the forest, to his eager 
eye no tree, shrub, or herb has the slightest interest if it is not 
an unclaimed polxone icang. He has not sufficient interest in 
those who are to come after him two generations hence — just 
as his forefathers before him had none — to plant a dammar- 
yieiding arboretum ; he prefers to spend days in hunting the 
forest in their quest. 

When he has fallen on such a prize — now to be found only 
in the dense forest far from any dwelling-place — he at once 
proceeds to clear off from under it the surrounding vegetation, 
and to make several deep hacks or distinctive marks as the 
sign of appropriation. It is then safe ; for it is in their code 
of honour to respect such a tree, not from any high moral 
principle, but from the more interested reason— lest, if to-day 
he robs his neighbour's dammar, he himself, -who may to- 
morrow be the lucky finder of perhaps several richer trees, 
may in like manner be robbed. There exists also the 
inherited superstitious dread of some unknown evil to follow ; 
for perchance the finder has hedged his property by the 
sanctity of a spell, the violation of which, will, sooner or 



IN SUMATRA. 137 



later, it is believed, be followed by the visitation of a setan in 
the form of a sickness or misfortune. If a setan be supposed to 
reside in any spot, not an individual will be found brave 
enough to approach it, however great profit might accrue to 
the venturer. 

In these forests I added to my collection some of the fairest 
of the feathered tribes — orange and scarlet-crested woodpeckers, 
green barbets, blue and bronze doves, green and scarlet twitter- 
ing Loriculi ; and on dead snags of the lonely outliers large 
hawks and falcons. Of mammalian animals my most interesting 
capture was the Sciuropterus, a flying squirrel with large 
gentle lemur-like eyes, soft fur, and black margined parachute 
expansions. 

The neighbourhood of this village I found to be an excellent 
locality for butterflies ; for there were abundance of paths 
among second-growth forests, many open clumps of flowering 
shrubs, and hot sandy and pebbly banks along a broad and 
shallow stream unobstructed by bushes, sunny corners, and 
shady nooks innumerable. Almost every walk I took is 
indelibly and most delightfully memorable by the finding of 
some gay or remarkable form. Especially numerous were 
those interesting species, which have the gift of the slippers of 
invisibility to rescue them in dangerous moments. Frequent- 
ing the dense thickets they would flit out into more open 
spots, displaying for a few seconds the rich brilliancy of the 
cobalt of the upper sides of their wings, then settling either 
on a dry leaf, or more commonly on the ground among fallen 
foliage and twigs, whose colour, exactly matching their closed 
wings, concealed them beyond power of detection. Of these 
I obtained Amaihusia amethystus, Coelites epiminthia, C. eupty- 
cliioides and Eurytela castelnaui. 

Few butterflies can compare with another of my captures 
here, the AmUy podia enmolpus, the upper sides of whose 
wings are of the most sparkling emerald. A less brilliant but 
very chaste species of Cyrestes (C. periander) fell also to my 
lot only after great difficulty, for it loves the dense thickets, 
flitting with short flights from the under side of one leaf to 
the under side of another, where, spreading itself flat out, it 
disappears and is not easy to find. If with my hunters I 
sat down for a rest in an open sunny spot after a hot chase, we 



138 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

were often the centre of attraction for quite a flock of a very- 
beautiful large butterfly, Euplcea ochsenheimeri, which would 
fearlessly rest on their naked bodies and on my sweating 
hands, whence they allowed themselves to be captured be- 
tween the fingers in the easiest manner possible. Another 
butterfly also, the Cynthia Juliana, was often caught at the 
sweating bodies of the natives. 



IN SUMATRA. I39 



CHAPTER II. 

SOJOURN IN THE LAMPONGS — Continued. 

Move towards the Tengamus Mountain — Butterflies found on the journey 
thither — Tiohmomon— The Balai, a characteristic institution — Descent 
of the Lampongers — Their Language — Divisions of the province — Titles 
and dignities — Ornaments — Festivities and amusements — Marriage 
customs — Move to Penanggungan — Petroleum and paraffin matches— 
Penanggunsian — Great trees — Interesting plants and animals — The 
Siamang — Move to Terratas — Ascent of the Tengamus Mountain — Its 
flora and fauna — Return to Penanggungan and to Batavia. 

In the middle o f August I moved my camp north-westwards 
to the village of Penanggungan towards the high peak of 
the Tengamus at the top of the Seinangka Bay. I followed a 
native forest path, reported to be good, but which turned out 
to be an execrable tunnel through a grove of low rattan-palms, 
whose delicate but unbreakable tendrils, hanging down on all 
sides, studded with the sharpest and most unrelenting hooks, 
were ever suddenly fetching me up by a lasso round my neck 
or body from which no amount of ill-natured tugging or pulling 
would avail to relieve me, and from whose thorny grapnels I 
could release myself only by yielding, and stepping calmly 
backwards. Here an immense tree-trunk, six or seven feet in 
diameter, lay athwart the path; there a gigantic mud bath, 
the wallowing hole of a herd of elephants, in which my porters 
sank to the waist and sometimes to the armpits. 

On the way I netted a large Ornithoptera (0. amphrysus), 
and the first known female of Amesia juvenis, a day-Hying 
moth which mimics Trepsichrois mirfciber, while by the margin 
of a small stream I caught Leptocircus virescens, which derives 
protection from mimicking the habits and the appearance of 
a dragon-fly, in a crowd of which it is often to be found. 
In form it reminded me of the European genus Nemoptera. It 
flits over the top of the water fluttering its tails, jerking up and 
down just as dragon-flies do when flicking the water with the 



140 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



tip of their abdomens. When it settles on the ground, it is 
difficult to see, as it vibrates in constant motion its tail and 
wings, so that a mere haze, as it were, exists where it rests. 

Emerging from this forest, I found myself in Tiohmomon, 
a typical Lampong village, in a district which had been in- 
habited for many generations. The houses were all substan- 
tially built of planks, with, in many cases, carved decorations 
on the cross beams, and painted designs on the intermediate 
panels. 

The Balai is the most — we might almost say the only — 
peculiar and characteristic institution of the Lampongers. It 
is always the largest and most prominent edifice in the village, 
situated apart from all others, and in the most central position. 
It stands eight or ten feet from the ground, on massive pillars 
formed of great tree-stems, and is built generally of planks 
of wood, or of bamboo wicker-work. It is evident that 
much labour has been bestowed on it, for, as a rule, it indi- 
cates the highest available workmanship, as it is the result of 
the combined labour of the whole community. It is lofty, 
and roofed either with thatch of grass or rattan-palm leaves, 
or covered with wood or bamboo "slates," according to the 
fashion of roofing in vogue in the village. It is fairly well 
lighted, but the light, as a rule, is admitted only by the 
latticed gables, and by long slits and small windows a few 
feet above the level of the floor, more suitable, of course, 
to the squatting native than to a European sitting on a chair. 
Two doors, reached by strong bamboo ladders, or well-made 
wooden stairs, and situated one at each end of the building, 
either in the gables or in the sides, afford ingress and egress. 
At one end within a small inclosure is a cooking place — a 
deep layer of earth on which the fire rests. 

The Balai is in reality the town-hall of the Lamponger. It 
is the common property of every man, woman, and child in 
the village. In Mahomedan lands a man's house is sacred ; 
for a man rarely enters the dwelling of his neighbour, and never 
without the head of the house ; but the Balai is the assembly- 
room— the meeting place for all. Its doors stand ever open. 
All business is transacted under its roof ; all hitjaras (consul- 
tations and discussions) are held there. At whatever hour 
one enters, its most characteristic occupants, lazy, sleeping 



IN SUMATRA. 141 



villagers, are to be seen dotted over its floor. Durino- the 
day, the orang-jaga, or watchman, who occupies an open guard- 
room during the night, makes the Balai his watch-tower. 
All travellers passing through the village are free to its shade 
and shelter. The orang-bedagaag, or itinerant pedlar, finds 
at once a free lodging, a market-place for his goods, and an 
eager crowd to listen to the news he brings. Here all civic 
feasts and festive gatherings are held. Here they enjoy the 
pleasures of the dance for unbroken days and nights together. 
This being truthfully explained, means that the seated youths 
behold with delighted eyes the peculiar and monotonous 
posture figures, supposed to be elegant and most bewitching, 
of the ornament-bedizened maidens performing two and two 
at a time to the clanging and clamour of gong and drum, and 
that the maidens in their turn have the privilege of gazing 
on their future lords going through the same performance. 
Under its roof, their love is consummated in the weddiner 
and attendant ceremonies. Here, before a crowded audience, 
they are invested with their equivalent knighthoods and peer- 
ages ; and here, in many villages, they are at last laid out, 
and pass from it to the grave. Around the Balai, therefore, 
centres, as it were, the whole life of a Lampong village. 

The Lampongers claim to be descended from the Malays of 
Menangkabau (a district in the Padang region of Sumatra's 
West coast), where it is believed the first conquerors of the 
island established their kingdom, whence they spread to the 
northern central portion, and thence along the west and southern 
coasts, of what is now the Lampong Kesidency, at first, slowly 
by families and small communities, which agglomerated into 
separate margas with their chiefs. 

The dialect spoken in the Lampongs "appears to bo an 
original tongue, with one-third of its words of unknown origin." * 
I am doubtful how far this will be borne out by its closer 
study. It contains a very large number of corrupted Malay 
and Sundanese words; but the written symbols are pecu- 
liar to Sumatra. In Java, where Malay (met with in the 
coast towns), Sundanese (spoken only in the west of Java 
and supposed to be a distinct language), and Javanese are 
the spoken languages, Arabic is employed for expressing 
* Stanford's Compendium of Geography, Australasia, Appendix. 
11 



142 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

in writing both Malay and. Sundanese, and. the beautiful, 
interesting well-known Javan symbols for its own language. 
The Lampong characters have no resemblance to either of 
them, but Mr. Keane holds that they are based on the Devana- 
erari, as he affirms the Javanese to be also. The letters of 
which a specimen is given on the opposite page are mostly 
either horizontal lines, or lines meeting each other at acute 
angles, with marks and dots above and. below the line, to form 
nineteen characters, representing the sounds ka, ga, gna, pa, ba, 
ma, ta, da, na, tya, dya, nya, ya, a, la, ra, sa, wa, cha (rough). 
Marks and hooks above and below the letters are used to 
indicate the vowel sounds and the addition of n and ng, and 
a sign to indicate the dropping of the final vocable, so as to 
express the consonant, as "Ka tanda mat" ("dead sign") in- 
dicates K. At first, with only a native teacher, scarcely half 
of whose discourse I could comprehend, the acquisition of the 
language seemed very difficult; but, having the key given, it 
was far easier to acquire than it looked. 

The margas are the old native districts (one might almost 
call them regencies) into which the country was originally 
divided, each owning its own independence. The Govern- 
ment, in parcelling out the country for administrative pur- 
poses, has retained as much as possible the boundaries of the 
rnarga intact, as each had often its own peculiar customs, to 
which the people adhere with hereditary tenacity. In the old 
days each rnarga, and possibly each kampong (village) had a 
copy of its oondang-oondang, or laws, written on bamboo-stems, 
or on lontar (Borassus) palm leaves, which were preserved 
as heirlooms from generation to generation, till eaten up by a 
small boring beetle — which can in a very short time reduce the 
stoutest bamboo to powder if it is not looked after — or till 
destroyed in the fires by which every village has been periodi- 
cally wiped out, when it would be reinscribed from the memory 
bf some old villager, and again transmitted. In very rare cases 
only would the bamboo record be applied to, for in every vil- 
lage there was always some one, as now, who knew its con- 
tents with perfect accuracy, to whom it had been taught when 
a child by his father, as he in like manner had been taught by 
his ; so that when a case arose in which the adat (custom) was 
in question, recourse would be had to the living repository, as 



^ t*" 




IN SUMATRA. 143 

the quickest means of settling the point ; for their reading, like 
their act of inscribing, was, even as now, a painfully slow and 
difficult affair to the most learned. Now-a-days these interest- 
ing relics are very rare, and almost impossible to procure. 

Each marga, as a rule, has in it several villages, each with a 
chief. Each village community is a collection of families, 
either related or not to each other by the ties of blood — con- 
sisting of the original family or nucleus of the village and 
those descended from it, and of the companies of immigrants 
who have come from different places, and at different times, 
with their descendants. Each of these companies, or families, 
was called a suku, and each selected one of their number to 
represent them in all matters affecting their interests. So 
then a village community consisted, and still more or less 
completely consists, of several sulcus, each with its head, all 
subject to the village chief, who would, in the first instance, 
be the representative of the first suku or nucleus of the village, 
and thereafter, if that representative left no heirs, the person 
on whom the choice of the sulcus might fall. A trivial cause 
of dispute in a suku would be brought before the chief 
of the suku, associated with some of its old men from whom 
an appeal might lie to the head of the village with one or 
more of the Kapala sulcus. A case in which more than 
one suku was concerned would come before the village chief, 
sitting with the uninterested Kapala sukus. .An appeal from 
this village court might be made to the chief of the marga, 
possibly along with the village chiefs of the marga, beyond 
which, of course, it could not in past days go. This court 
also exercised jurisdiction in cases of inter- village disputes. A 
marga was therefore a little independent principality, or rather 
clan, whose boundaries were the limits claimed by the first 
immigrants to the place ; and seems to have been at first ruled 
by him among the settlers who was most influential or of the 
closest blood relationship with the chiefs or princes of Menang- 
kabau giving them the right to the title of Penyimbang. 

The highest Penyimbang within the boundaries ruled over 
the marga ; then in each village the highest ranked was chief of 
the village, and the next after him became chiefs of the village 
sections. The Penyimbang need not of necessity become chief 
of this village or marga ; he could delegate his authority to 



144 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



another, but still his voice, in all matters where he chose to 
exercise it, had pre-eminence. The Penyimbangs constituted 
a hereditary nobility, which exercised great influence ; and if 
I have understood the narratives of those old chiefs with whom 
I have talked, they were nearly all of equal rank. No one could 
be raised de novo to the honour of a Penyimbang without the 
consent of all the Penyimbangs in his marga. When this was 
obtained he was called out, by the Marga chief, amid the accla- 
mations of the people convened in full assembly in the Balai of 
the capital of the marga, before whom the services entitling him 
to the honour and showing him to be a " fit and proper " person 
to be so endued were proclaimed, to take his place on the raised 
benches occupied by the nobility. The new peer was then 
bound to kill in honour of the occasion, a number of buffaloes, 
according to the degree of his rank, sometimes as many as 
ninety, and give a great feast, as well as bestow a present 
on each of his brother Penyimbangs. 

As margas increased in number, so their boundaries became 
eternal subjects of dispute, referred as a rule to the arbitra- 
ment of war. Now, as the Sunda Strait alone separated the 
south eastern extremity of Sumatra from Bantam (which, until 
abolished by the Dutch Government in 18]l,was i a flourishing 
kingdom under powerful Sultans), a rich trade in rice, pepper, 
and pottery, at length sprang up between the Bantamese 
traders and the Lampongers. Whether the former intro- 
duced the cultivation of pepper into the Lampongs, or 
found these settlers already acquainted with the culture, 
is doubtful ; but it is certain that at an early date rich spice 
gardens flourished in southern Sumatra. Every year the 
Sultan sent across a fine prau laden with all sorts of earthen- 
ware, an art then unknown to the Lampongers, with a letter 
full of compliments and good wishes, which was publicly read 
on a day when all the Penyimbangs had assembled, to which 
they returned a complimentary reply with gifts of pepper 
and elephants' tusks ; so trade gradually increased, and with 
it the power and influence of the Sultan, whose aid in these 
intermargal disputes, either by mediation or more practi- 
cally, was often besought. Grateful chiefs sent in return 
rich presents of ivory and pepper, with acknowledgments 
of his influence, till gradually the Sultan's protection was 



IN SUMATRA. 145 



extended over the greater part of the Lampongs in return 
for a yearly tribute. Special services were acknowledged by 
the bestowal of titles and dignities. These honours and ranks 
were hereditary, and were at first conferred directly by the 
Sultan ; but afterwards they could be purchased, with the 
assent of the other peers of the marga, from a hereditary 
Eight-holder, by such as were of faultless '• name and fame." 
A panglcat, or title, was just as dear to the heart of a Lam- 
ponger as now to his European brother, and assiduously did 
he labour to hoard up the necessary sum, and cultivate by 
presents the good will of the Penyimbangs, in order that he 
might some day have the pride of occupying one of the seats 
of honour at marriage feasts and on gala days, almost the 
only occasions on which the happy possessor of a jmngkat 
could be distinguished from his fellows. 

The Order of the Pepadon was the highest conferred by the 
Sultan. The Pepadon was a great wooden chair, with a high 
back richly carved, and stood in the Balai. The honour 
consisted in occupying this seat at feasts and high occasions 
before the assembled marga, while the Penyimbangs of lesser 
rank occupied lower seats to right and left. On grand days 
the Pepadon was often overlaid with gold and silver plates, 
lent for the occasion by the people of the marga. On his 
first installation to the Order the new noble was drawn on a 
wooden car from his house to the Balai, and if he were of old 
family it was shaded by a yellow or white canopy. 

If within a marga a person be found murdered, and the 
murderer cannot be discovered, the whole marga must pay to 
the relatives a sum of money according to his rank, as an 
expiation. On this account all travellers are saluted with, 
"Where to, master ?" and "Where from, master ?"" Where 
did you spend last night ? " that there may be some clue as to 
his whereabouts should he go a-missing ; and of the people 
among whom he was last seen alive, in order, if possible, 
to saddle some village with the crime. 

The Order of the Pepadon gave the possessor and his 
relatives the right, if murdered, to a higher sum of blood- 
money than any one else. Not only this ; for his daughters 
he could demand a sum (cljudjur) from the man claiming her 
hand four times as great as from a man who had no rank. 



146 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



The next lower rank consisted in the privilege of sitting 
in the Balai on state occasions against a wooden pillar, called 
the SesaJco. It entitled the relatives of its possessor to a sum 
of blood-money less only than could be demanded by those of 
members of the Order of the Pepadon, and a like proportionate 
djudjur for his daughter's hand. Should he be afterwards 
elevated to the rank of the Pepadon, the Sesako was nailed 
to the back of the Pepadon. 

The Lawang Koree, or " honour-door," the third rank, was 
a gateway of carved wood or stone which was erected near to 
the dwelling of the holder. 

On women of ancient family and of high rank certain 
honours were also bestowed. They were entitled to be borne 
to the Balai on great occasions on a state car ; but the right to 
be carried with the foot resting on the body of a man as a 
footstool belonged to the most high-born alone. Women of 
less distinguished birth could come walking on variously 
adorned mats spread before them by their slaves. 

In a full assembly of the marga on a high occasion, the 
foremost places are occupied by the Penyimbangs of various 
orders. In a line fronting the Penyimbangs sit all the 
budjangs, or unmarried youths, facing a row of young 
maidens. The sight is a gay one. All are in their best 
attire, the general crowd in whatever garments please their 
fancy most, but generally of the gayest colours of coats and 
headcloths, and sarongs suspended by large silver- and 
gold-buckled belts, with ivory- and gold-handled krisses 
stuck in the waist ; the women — for those that stand round 
have all been married — more sombrely, wearing the matri- 
monial symbol, the sulung, a necklet of massive gold or 
silver rings strung immovably, except for a little piece in 
front, on a cylinder of the same metal, and the thick 
stud-like earrings, the only ornaments that their severe laws 
permit to those who have known the bonds of wedlock. Here 
and there among the crowd a crownless boat-shaped hat, made 
of cardboard, and bound round with a gold plate, indicates that 
its wearer is a childless wife. The young unmarried men are 
simply attired in a sarong of a bright colour, supported by a 
belt fastened by a buckle of greater or less value according to 
his rank, with the corresponding number of krisses stuck in it, 



IN SUMATRA. 147 



and with a headcloth tied about his temples in the fashion of 
his district ; but from the waist upwards naked. 

The centre of attraction is the long line of maidenhood, 
glittering in silver and gold of native workmanship. The 
hair of each girl, neatly arranged and odoriferous from abun- 
dance of cocoa-nut and cajeput oil, is tied in a knot behind 
and transfixed by a high-backed comb overlaid with o-old 
plates ; her head is crowned with a coronet (siggar) of gold, of 
form and magnificence according to her pangkat ; a shawl 
worn sash-wise hangs from the shoulder to the ground, while 
from above the middle hangs a rich sarong, or petticoat, of 
home-grown and spun silk, interwoven with gold thread, and 
decorated with hundreds of small coins of the Dutch mint, 
which jingle pleasingly as she dances. Above this the body is 
girt with a silk slendang, half concealing the breasts. The 
arms, shoulders, and chest are bare, except for the nume- 
rous gold or silver collars and necklets and bracelets, of 
patterns peculiar to her marga, with which she is loaded. 
Often these collars are entirely composed of the large dollar 
pieces of Spain, Holland, and Mexico, and of English half- 
crowns. Of the highest-born maidens, the arms from the 
wrist to the elbow are almost concealed by the display of pure 
" barbaric gold," for they may wear as many bracelets as 
they choose ; while their sisters less fortunate in the matter 
of blood and rank must conform to the regulation number cor- 
responding to their degree. The breast is overlaid witli 
crescent-shaped gold plates, suspended in tiers ; the waist is 
encircled by a belt of one of the precious metals secured by an 
elaborately-carved buckle of the same material. The rather 
bony fingers are encircled with many rings, and even the 
nails are lengthened by additions of silver into talon-like 
claws ; so that altogether the Lam pong maiden presents a 
dazzling appearance in the dim uncertain light of a lamplit 
.Balai. The cost of such a costume represents no mean sum ; 
it is not uncommon for a girl to have as much as £100 worth 
of ornaments about her person at a festival. 

When all is ready, the ever monotonous music commences, 
and the Master of the Ceremonies, whose place is between the 
two lines, at a signal from the chief calls— and his directions 
must be implicitly obeyed — on two of the maidens to dance. 



148 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



His office is both a delicate and a difficult one. He must 
himself be of good position in the community, and be more 
or less a general favourite ; but especially must he be 
intimately acquainted with the social position and rank of 
all present ; for should he unwittingly call on two maidens or 
two youths of different ranks to dance together he will have 
committed a mistake which has many a time turned the 
festival into a fight, for the parents or the relatives of the 
higher-ranked of the dancers, feeling themselves insulted, 
have suddenly revenged themselves by amok — that mode of 
retribution which is to them the swiftest and most gratifying ; 
the first victim being generally the unfortunate Master of 
the Ceremonies himself. 

The daughter of a low Penyimbang used to have the right 
to have one girl attendant behind her, with a young man to hold 
a white umbrella over her head ; but a maiden of the highest 
rank was entitled to as many as six attendants, and to be shaded 
by a silk umbrella, gaily ornamented with flowers and gold-leaf, 
which, when she was not dancing, lay folded in front of her, by 
the side of a cushion on which her rank entitled her to place 
her fans. The daughters of villagers without pangkat danced 
in the best they could afford, but unattended and unshaded. 

The high-born youth was distinguished by the number 
and gorgeousness of his krisses, and further by the number 
of youths prostrate on the ground before him, on whom he 
placed his foot as a sign of his authority. These customs 
have now been greatly modified, as the attendants on the high 
born were in former days their slaves (and slavery has been 
for many years abolished by the Government), and where they 
now appear they are paid servants, or relatives or friends who 
have volunteered to take for the occasion the place of the 
slaves of former days. 

White was the sign of nobility, which alone those of high 
pangkat could use, all others being obliged to wear cloth of 
a dark colour. Blue remains even now when all restrictions 
have been removed by law, the commonest colour of garments 
worn by the people ; but even yet the sight of white in one of 
low rank incites envy or enmity. The Magistrate of one of 
the districts informed me of a case he had shortly had before 
him, in which the complainant had the white umbrella he was 



IN SUMATRA. 1±9 



carrying snatched from him and broken before his face. The 
accused pleaded, an excuse which he thought sufficient, that 
his neighbour had no right to an umbrella of that colour, 
as he was a man of no pangkat. Even in their houses, till 
recent times, only chiefs had the right to sleep on a mattress, 
or have it protected by curtains, every one else being obliged 
to sleep on a mat laid on the floor. 

The performers called on by the Master of the Ceremonies 
come forward and seating themselves in the open space, perform 
towards the chiefs and the assembled company with graceful 
respect the sembah, a form of obeisance made by placing the 
hands together and bringing them to the forehead at the mo- 
ment of inclining the head. Each maiden has a fan in both 
hands, which she holds by fixing them before and behind alter- 
nate fingers, and the performance, which consists in posturing 
the arms and hands, and but little in the movement of the 
feet which really scarcely stir out of the spot, can hardly be 
denominated dancing. The various attitudes assumed are few 
and not very elegant, and, after being repeated to all sides, 
they are ended by the danseuse gradually sinking down to the 
sitting position, seinbahing to the company, and resuming her 
seat among her fellows, when her place is taken by any two 
youths whom the Ceremony-Master may call on, who go through 
much the same performance in a less elegant manner. Inter- 
vals in the dancing are filled up by the singing of love songs 
by the young men, which are responded to by the maidens, 
often in extempore verses, which are generally scratched 
with needles on pieces of bamboo, and passed to their sweet- 
hearts through the hands of the Master of the Ceremonies to 
be preserved by them as valuable keepsakes. Such festivals 
mostly last through a whole night; but on great occasions 
often for several days and nights together. 

When the festival lasts several days the forenoons are given 
up to feasting, the early afternoons to sleep and talk, and 
during the latter part the youth engage in the middle of the 
village square in a game of ball called " simpak," in which 
they vie with each other before the maidens, as well as the 
general public— who congregate in the shade of the eaves of 
the surrounding houses as spectators and admirers— in the 
display of the proficiency and elegance of their movements. 



150 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



The game consists in the young men, who dispose themselves 
in circles of as many as twenty, keeping in the air a large 
hollow sphere, made of rattan cords neatly twisted together, 
by kicking it only with the side of the foot as it descends— 
touching with any other part of the body being, out of rule. 
In dealing the kick, the limb is swung out with great vigour 
almost perpendicularly, while the body is thrown back nearly 
to the horizontal position, and the beauty of the play consists, 
besides keeping the ball continually in the air from player to 
player, in the elegant leap with which the body is brought 
back to the erect posture without the player changing his 
foot-ground ; and the more elegant these movements — and 
really very elegant they are — the greater favour and applause 
the player wins among his female spectators. 

On tiring of this, various couples engage in a species of 
dance — the relic of a war dance — full of spirited action, and of 
a character quite different from that to which the nights are 
devoted. 

When in the small hours of the morning the finale of such 
a festival takes place, the maidens are escorted home by the 
young men, who flank their wards, each bearing a great flaming 
torch, which now reflected in the water of some wide stream 
which must be crossed, now blinking through the trees of some 
forest-skirted path produces a most pleasing effect as the 
various parties wend their different ways from the village. 

Their homegoings end — in what land do they not? — in the 
old tale. He who has long spent his evenings by the rice 
block — a large heavy log of wood, with a conical hole in it, in 
which the rice corns are husked by being stamped by a long 
pole — admiring, as well as assisting, the maiden of his choice 
in her work, (which displays more than any other employment 
the grace and beauty of the female figure,) is at length 
rewarded. The sign of engagement is often a ring, but more 
generally the youth and the maiden exchange some portion 
of their garments. 

As a rule the engagement is kept secret from the parents 
ill near the time when the youth desires to marry. When 
he goes to the parents of the girl his real difficulties begin. 
A daughter is so much property, and cannot be lightly 
allowed to leave her father's roof without fetching an equiva- 



IN SUMATRA. 151 



lent. The Government has now enacted that all marriages 
shall be without let or consideration, between "him who will 
with her who will," but the system of djudjur (or price to 
be paid for a wife), sanctified by generations of custom, it 
is almost impossible to prevent, as when a fair sum is not 
paid, the girl's father can always raise insurmountable diffi- 
culties, so that, in fact, the djudjur is almost invariably paid, 
and is in amount according to the status of the youth, and 
of the parents of the bride. When this has been {sub rosa, of 
course) satisfactorily arranged, the parents of the youth and 
of the girl must appear before the chief of the village (if they 
belong to the same village, or to both chiefs if the parties 
belong to different villages) to give official information that 
their children wish to marry. This is the hatrangan (trang, is 
clear) of the affair ; it is, in fact, the publication of the banns. 
After this has taken place, it is legal for the parents to receive 
a small fixed gift (marriage gold, as it is called), but any 
demand for a greater sum is penal. 

The system of djudjur has acted, and still acts, very detri- 
mentally on the population, for, as a rule, the sum demanded 
by a father for his daughter's hand is so great that many 
young men cannot afford to marry ; and as children born out of 
wedlock are from of old considered to be a stigma on the village, 
the people have increased but little in number. Of course if a 
youth should complain to the magistrate that he cannot marry 
the girl of his choice on account of the large sum demanded 
by her father, the magistrate would at once interfere ; but it is 
very rare that any complaint is made, the youth preferring to 
pay the djudjur, beaten down to the lowest figure possible. 

If, however, the youth chooses he may marry the girl in the 
manner known as " ambil anak " (literally, " taking a child "), 
in which case the father of the girl receives the husband into 
his house as one of his children, bound to labour in her place, 
for him absolutely. 

In effect, by this form of marriage, the husband becomes the 
slave of his wife ; he is bound to do all that she may demand, 
and, should he rue his bargain and obtain a divorce, the 
children of the union remain with her, and he goes out as he 
came into the house — portionless. It always remains open to 
him, however, should he fall heir to any property, to pay the 



152 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



djudjur and remove his wife to a home of his own. If a man 
have a larger family of daughters than of sons, it is very- 
customary for the eldest son to bring a wife to his father's 
house, but for the rest of the sons to go to the houses of their 
mothers-in-law, and for the daughters either to bring their 
husbands to their mother's house also, in order that her 
parents may reap the benefit of their labour, or to migrate 
to their husbands' homes. Where a man's only child is a 
daughter, marriage is almost always by " ambil anak." 

With the richer members of the community it is a matter of 
pride to pay djudjur for their wives. When no agreement 
can be come to about the djudjur between the youth and the 
parents of the girl, the two often elope together to the man's 
village (if they belong to different villages, or to another 
village if they be of the same village), in which she is placed 
in the house of his father, but, if she is of higher rank than 
himself, in the house of the head of the village. The father of 
the girl pursues with an armed following, and, being met at 
the entrance of the village by a like force, a fight (nowadays 
a sham fight) takes place in front of the Balai, in which the 
father of the maiden allows himself to be overcome, whereupon 
an adjournment is made within the building, and matters 
are amicably settled, the day ending with football, dancing, 
cock-fighting, and festivities. Their marriage ceremony fol- 
lows the Mahomedan rites. 

From Tiohmomon I continued my way to Penanggungun. 
I was greatly surprised to see, even in the smallest villages, 
the universal use of two articles of western civilisation — 
petroleum oil and paraffin matches. There was scarcely a 
dwelling in a village of even eight to ten houses in this 
out-of-the-way corner of the world in which this oil was 
not the illuminating medium; if there was not in the 
house another article of western origin, there was a lamp, 
often of a most elegant and costly pattern, of gilt brass, and 
complete with wheel and pulley apparatus. I daily saw 
packhorses laden with De Voe's well-known boxes passing 
through the villages to more distant places. Nearly every 
native, too, produces from a fold of his cotton kilt, or his head- 
cloth, when he wants " fire," one of the little yellow-papered 
chip boxes, with "Patent paraffinerade sakerhets tandstikor 



IN SUMATRA. 153 



utan svafvel ocli fosfor," which arrive in these parts from 
Sweden — if not also from the " fabriks : ' of swindling China- 
men in Singapore — by the hundred thousand. 

There is scarcely a western article but the Chinamen have 
introduced its counterfeit here, sometimes with such wonder- 
ful ingenuity that, even when anathematising them, one cannot 
help feeling a sort of respect for their perseverance and assi- 
duity even in evil doing. This broad dissemination of tand- 
stickors has driven into oblivion the savage's picturesque 
friction block. He strikes his match on the box and lights 
his cigarette at the flame, guarding it from wind between his 
half-closed hands, as if he were a native of the Isles of the 
Blest. Though one is certainly pleased enough to have those 
commodities ready to one's hand, yet it is decidedly disap- 
pointing not to be able to outrun civilisation ; one would fain 
see " some new thing," some strange artifice or curious custom. 
To the ethnographical student, the latest Paris designs in 
the furniture of a Polynesian or New Guinean hut must be 
extremely interesting and edifying ! 

Penanggungan was quite an embryo village in the middle 
of a fresh clearing in a piece of very ancient forest, and conse- 
quently a rich botanical hunting-ground. In its near vicinity 
grew one of the grandest Urostigma trees I have ever seen ; 
its broad buttresses and sturdy supporters, among which a 
wanderer might almost lose himself, looking like the pillars 
of some ancient Moorish temple. It was thick in fruit, 
and harboured legions of skipping squirrels, great apes, and 
troops of monkeys, which, to the eye surveying them from 
below, looked like pigmies flitting about amid its branches. 
Immense flocks of the large fruit-pigeons, and of the smaller 
members of that numerous and beautiful family, crowded to 
this rendezvous, their wings keeping up a constant whirring 
in the air by their coming and going ; scores of the great 
hornbill (Buceros galeatus) with their five-feet expanse of 
wing, and myriads of smaller birds whose varied calls and 
notes alone indicated their presence, flocked from far and near 
to this inexhaustible storehouse (and its produce could not 
be less than tens of thousands of bushels of figs), and yet the 
vast assemblage but sparsely peopled this single magnificent 
specimen of the vegetable kingdom. 



154 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Here also I gathered a splendid orchid (Galeola sp.) grow- 
ing on damp rotting tree-trunks, climbing over the low forest, 
singular in producing no foliage but putting forth a stem pro- 
fusely flowering at short nodes for forty feet in length, with 
blossoms of a rich yellow colour. In the depths of the forest 
I found the large Rafjiesia amolcli and Hasseltii, and the 
smaller but handsomer Brugmansia Loicii. 

On the giant Urostigma I shot several specimens of 
Bucerotklx, the white-crested Hydrocisa albirosiris, and the 
great hornbill (Buceros galeatus), whose heavy scarlet hammer- 
fronted casque, which it uses to beat with far-resounding 
thuds the branches of the trees, draws upon it a severe perse- 
cution, as in Palembang each head commands a large price, 
for out of its dense white ivory-like consolidated horn, are 
manufactured studs and sleeve-links of great beauty. The 
casque in most species of this family is a cancellated structure 
permeated by blood-vessels so teased out as to give it great 
lightness, that it is difficult to understand why in this 
species it should be so solid and heavy ; yet, notwithstanding, 
no bird could flit about more lightly in the tree-tops, or 
gather its food more agilely. In a longitudinal section of the 
head and casque of this bird, the thick horny hammering por- 
tion, as well seen in the figure opposite, has behind it a layer of 
dense bone to which osseous bars radiate towards the occipital 
condyle, where the head joins with the neck, and pass above 
and around the brain cavity, to protect it in a most beautiful 
way from shock. The brain cavity is thus lodged below the 
line of shock, and is besides separated from the casque by 
padding in the shape of a cartilaginous joint. To Professor 
Flower I am indebted for directing my attention to the 
beautiful section in the Museum of the Koyal College of 
Surgeons sketched here, whose structure had indeed led him 
to infer, before he knew the fact, that the bird must use its 
bead as a hammering instrument. 

In a neighbouring stream, flitting from stone to stone, I 
obtained the lively Hydroeiehla ignicapillus, a bird in habit 
and colour closely resembling the true wagtails ; and on its 
banks the horned frogs (Megalophrys nasuta) were abundant, 
whose anvil-like clinking " kang-kang " filled the air in the 
evenings ; but, in simulating so closely the dead leaves among 



IN SUMATRA. 



155 



which they lay, it required the closest search to find them 
Lying flat on the ground, their sharp acute horns mimicked 
the points of leaves, from which lines radiated representing 
crossing and overlapping margins, while dark-brown spots and 




HEAD OF BUCEROS, AND SECTION OF ITS CRANIUM. 

markings distributed over their bodies could not be told from 
the blotches and fungoid growths of decaying vegetation. In 
coitu the male embraces the female round the lumbar region. 

On shooting a Siamang in our high Urostigma preserve, 
my hunter found, on picking it up, a young one clasped in 



156 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



its embrace, to all appearance dead also. Both of them he 
brought home slung on a pole. Cutting their thongs, he threw 
them down on the verandah and went off again. Being 
very busy, I had taken no notice of them till a movement 
caused me to look up, when I saw the young ape quietly 
making tracks for the stairway ; but I quickly secured him, 
despite his screams and vigorous attempts to bite. It had 
been only stunned by a pellet on the head, and had no bones 
broken. In a very short time it tamed down and became 
a most delightful companion. Its expression of countenance 
was most intelligent, and at times almost human ; but in 
captivity it often wore a sad and dejected aspect, which quite 
disappeared in its excited moods. With what elegance and 
gentleness it used to take what was offered it with its delicate 
taper fingers, which, like its head, are more anthropoid (except 
for their hairiness) than any other ape's ! It would never 
put its lips to a vessel to drink, but invariably lifted the water 
to its mouth by dipping in its half-closed hand and awkwardly 
licking the drops from its knuckles. The gentle and caressing 
way in which it would clasp me round the neck with its long 
arms, laying its head on my chest, uttering a satisfied crooning 
sound, was most engaging. Every evening it used to make 
with me a tour round the village square, with its hand on 
my arm, enjoying the walk apparently as much as I did. 
It was a most curious and ludicrous sight to see it erect on its 
somewhat bandy legs, hurrying along in the most frantic haste, 
as if to keep its head from outrunning its feet, with its long 
free arm see-sawing in a most odd way over his head to 
balance itself. 

That they can leap the great distances from tree to tree 
ascribed to them is, I think, incorrect ; for during the felling 
of the forest near the village, when a little colony of Siamangs 
got cut off from the branches of the nearest trees by some 
thirty feet only, they scampered up and down the tree 
howling in the most abject terror at every stroke of the axe, 
yet without venturing to leap the intervening space, and 
even when it was falling they did not attempt to save 
themselves by springing to the ground, but perished in the 
crash of the tree. The Siamang and the Ongka (Hyalobates 
variegatus), an allied but smaller ape, are the most interesting 



IN SUMATRA. 157 



of the Quadramana to be met with in this region, the Orang- 
utan not being found so far in the south. 

Continuing my journey, skirting round an elbow of Mt. 
Tengamus, I descended on the village of Terratas, looking 
down on the Bay of Semangka with its mountainous shores, 
and on the peaked summit of the island of Tabuang standing 
out of the motionless water. In one of the little ravines I 
gathered specimens of a singular climbing shrub (Lagenaria) 
with immense semi-globular fruits over two feet seven inches 
in circumference. Though in size so large they are quite 
light, their seeds being small and winged with a broad 
glancing membrane, thinner than the finest white tissue paper, 
which serves as a float to disseminate them. 

Two days later I made the ascent of the mountain, which, 
owing to its fissured and chasmed character, was tedious 
and difficult. Passing through a dense belt of wild bananas 
and Zingiberiaceous plants, then a zone of disagreeable rattan- 
palms, we broke into the deep, dark virgin forest, beneath 
whose shade little or nothing was to be found growing, save 
here and there an arum with a curious serpent-head-like 
spathe, or in bright scarlet fruit ; but at 3000 feet I was 
gladdened by entering a belt of Ixora trees in one mass 
of scarlet flowers, which, as the mountain rose abruptly, 
had a fine effect viewed from above. In the damper regions 
a little higher, the tree-trunks began to be more densely 
clothed with orchids and ferns and climbers of all kinds; 
and here and there, high in the angles of the branches, 
scarlet Azaleas, which had crept down the mountain out of 
the temperate heights as far as they might dare. At 5000 
feet I gathered Horsfield's Dipteris fern, which seems too 
delicate to thrive well at home though it is a denizen of the 
higher mountains of the tropics, accompanied by great fields 
of a handsome species of bracken (Gleichenia glauca). At 
5400 feet I halted for the night in a small hut that I had a 
day or two previously had erected for our accommodation on 
the yerge of the more temperate region of the mountain, where 
the trees became smaller and more stunted and were loaded 
with lichens, mosses and feathery lycopods, and which turned 
out to be the lowest limit of the pitcher-plants. 

Few signs of animal life were observed, except the spoor of 
12 



158 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



the tapir, and high rip the wallowing holes of the rhinoceros, 
and footprints of the rare mountain antelope {Antilocarpa suma- 
trana) ; the intermittent low booming note of the large fruit- 
pigeons (Carpophaga baclia) answering each other at roost, and 
the chattering cries of flocks of Babblers (Garrulax palliatus) 
at play in the distant tree-tops, filled the woods, but they 
never approached near enough to afford a chance of securing 
them for specimens. 

The night was very disagreeable, for our hut of branches 
and leaves leaked freely, and the dense smoke Avhich issued 
from the wet wood fire, round which my boys crouched with 
chattering teeth, was painful to eyes and throat. I have often 
been surprised that the native, who, in the low grounds, goes 
about and even sleeps in all weathers nearly naked, when I 
with my European clothing have felt it quite chilly, almost 
at once succumbs to the low temperature in the mountain 
heights, and often actually dies before he can descend. A 
few hours round a blazing fire after a hot jorum of coffee re- 
invigorated them somewhat, and far into the night the woods 
resounded to the weird monotonous chant of one of those 
epics to which the Lamponger is never tired of listening, and 
which his country is famed for, such as the Herculean exploits 
of that great hero, Anak Dalom, who, miraculously escaping 
from the interior of a bamboo, played the part of another 
iEneas along these shores. At length, when one by one they 
dropped off to doze, with their chins on their knees, their 
heads buried in their sarongs, the intense silence of the forest 
reigned, which even the moaning of the trees and the shrill 
screaming of the cicads could not disturb. 

Resuming our ascent, I found that at 5800 feet the Dipteris 
horsfieldi increased in abundance, while lichens and mosses 
padded every stone, tree-trunk, and lower branch with a thick 
springy cushion of moss, among which everywhere the elegant 
flagons of the Pitcher-plants were embedded or swayed grace- 
fully from projecting twigs. Here also, among the moss and 
on the fallen trees, a pretty Cymbidium, an epiphytic orchid 
with dark-green crisp foliage, carpeted in profusion the hol- 
lows and knolls. The whole mountain above 5800 feet seemed 
as if intentionally laid out in a gigantic rockery, up which the 
path wound under moss-padded arches, and over boulders on 



IN SUM A TEA. 159 



which choice flowers had been planted ; and as we ascended 
other species of orchids appeared, and shrubby Rhododendrons 
with bright scarlet bells, (E. tuUfiorum and malayanum). 
Nearer the top, the vegetation was mostly composed of lean- 
armed and straggling myrtles and shrubs of the heather-bell 
family. 

Crowds of blue-bottle flies, a few bees, a couple of lepidop- 
tera, and a small bird, with a Plocens-\ike chirp, flitting about 
among the tall reeds, represented life at 7200 feet. 

Before descending, I stood to watch the gathering of the 
clouds, which in the wet season begin toward midday to en- 
velope the mountain-crests. Here and there white masses, like 
puffs of steam, would suddenly appear over the wooded lands 
below, principally over deep and naturally cold ravines, till the 
whole landscape was dotted with little flocks of clouds, and 
occasionally, even while I was looking, a white cloud would 
suddenly condense along the margin of the sea, and, travelling 
inward up the mountain side as a dense fog, which finally 
descended in heavy rain just as I got back with my collection 
to the rest-house of the previous evening. 

Next morning I descended to the Balai at Terratas. After 
several days of drying and packing up my collections, I started 
back for our camp at Penanggungan, to prepare for my return 
to Telok-betong on my way to Batavia. 

The road at this season, now well on in the wet monsoon, 
though of no great length, was excessively bad, so that the 
transport of my bulky herbarium in a dry condition became an 
anxious and difficult matter. Things went well till we reached 
the steep climb to the top of the pass at 2000 feet — eight hours 
of hard trudging, plunging and scrambling, with feet, legs, 
and bodies bleeding from thousands of leeches. From the top 
of the pass the road lay along a nearly level plateau for many 
miles, through virgin forest. Here the rain came down in 
cold, heavy lines, flooded the path and enlivened the army of 
leeches, which wriggled and stretched their green, bloodthirsty 
necks from every leaf and blade of grass. The journey at 
last became a dogged, cheerless trudge ; I was past caring 
for any change of weather ; things were as bad as they could 
be. Not a single word was uttered, except the intermittent 
" All'-il-allahs " — whose very woe-begoneness made me smile in 



160 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



spite of the general misery of things — as the coolies changed 
their carrying-poles from shoulder to shoulder. 

At nightfall we reached a small cluster of huts, where we 
camped thankfully for the night : and next day before noon 
the terrible burden was deposited with thankfulness within 
my old camp, where I found my Siamang in a sad state, 
suffering from a suppurating finger and tooth. On lancing 
the one, and extracting the other, the poor creature seemed 
greatly relieved, and I was delighted to watch it recover 
without having contracted any antipathy, but rather the 
reverse, for me. It accompanied me to Telok-betong, occu- 
pying with great composure during the long journey a seat on 
the top of one of my large packages, sheltering its head, to 
the amusement of all whom we met, under a Chinese umbrella 
which I had bought for it, and for which, after every halt, it 
held out its hand in the most knowing way, screaming lustily 
if the porters dared to move on before it had comfortably 
arranged itself. 

I took it with me to Batavia, where I gave it to a friend to 
keep till a good opportunity should occur of sending it to 
London. It managed, however, to escape, and unfortunately 
took to the evil practice of hiding in the tops of the cocoa-nut 
trees, and dropping down — in the most playful way, I have 
not a doubt — its fruits on the passers by, till some irate half- 
caste, who had narrowly escaped a broken head, unworthily 
put an end to a most charming existence, to my deep regret. 



IN THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO. 161 



CHAPTER III. 

SOJOUHN IN THE PALEMBANG RESIDENCY. 

From Batavia to Anjer — lleturn to Telok-betong— Proceed to Beneawang — 
Leave this for the Blalau region — Camp at Sanghi— Camp in the 
forest — Phosphorescent display — Camp again in forest — Keach Bumi- 
padang — Pass on to Batu-brah — Description of the village — Move on to 
Kenali — Description of the village — Proceed to Hoodjoong — Description of 
the village — Its tobacco industry — Its rice-fields — Planting and reaping — 
Superstitions — Goitre — Fauna and flora of the Besagi volcano — Birds 
and insects of the neighbourhood. 

Having despatched my collections to England, in the middle 
of December, I turned my steps once more to Sumatra, to 
investigate the Highlands of the Bencoolen and Palembang 
Residencies. Just then, because of a break in the cable 
between Anjer and Telok-betong, a Government steamer was 
plying to keep up communication between the two stations, 
which the authorities kindly allowed me to make use of, if I 
should choose to proceed by that way. Accordingly, a day's 
ride in a Kahar brought me to Anjer, where I renewed my 
acquaintance with the beautiful view obtained from the 
verandah of the little that was there. Alas ! that I should 
have to write teas ; for the cruel Krakatoa wave of dawn of the 
23rd August, 1883, washed away the village, and with it the 
little inn and the kind Dutch landlady and her whole family. 
Having crossed to Telok-betong, I proceeded after a short 
delay across country to Beneawang at the top of the Semangka 
Bay. As I was making for the slopes of the Besagi volcano, 
the easiest route would have been to take steamer to Kroe, on 
the west coast, and thence by road eastwards; but I was 
desirous of seeing the scenery and the vegetation along the 
valley of the Semangka river, which, running south through 
the Sawah Mountains, falls into the sea at the top of its own 
bay. Although it was reported to be a very rarely followed 
route, I decided to attempt the journey ; but it proved a more 



102 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



difficult one than I had anticipated. I could find nobody to 
accompany me who had ever traversed the road before, or 
who. could give me the least information as to the distance 
between their own last village and Batu-brah, the nearest in 
the Kroe district. The road at its commencement lay along 
the triangular plain occupying the cleft where the Barisan 
Mountains branch to form the eastern and western boundaries 
of the bay. Beaching in the afternoon the village of Sangi, 
at the confluence of the Samung with the Semangka, I en- 
camped for the night in its Balai. 

Next morning, crossing the Samung in small prahus, accom- 
panied by twenty-five porters I proceeded along the eastern 
bank of the Semangka. As its stream, where at length the 
path crossed to the opposite side, was running with a very swift 
current and was nearly six feet deep, a difficult obstacle was 
presented to our progress. An hour was lost in building a raft, 
and a second in transporting the baggage. As the last pack- 
ages, luckily for us, were being brought over rain began to fall, 
and within an hour of its commencement it would have been 
impossible to have crossed. The river runs between hills 
which for fifty miles rise very abruptly from its banks, and aug- 
mented by contributory streams rushing down steep, boulder- 
studded slopes, it swells with great suddenness. Over these 
violent side-torrents every bundle had to be transported by 
many carriers, each holding it by one hand, and steadying 
himself by grasping his neighbour with the other. In this 
operation several narrow escapes occurred ; for, once losing 
foothold, no human aid could have prevented one from being 
swept into the main stream, boiling and roaring past in some 
places 150' feet below us, and often thirty yards in breadth. 

The track was of the worst character possible, being ob- 
structed by fallen trees and huge blocks of stone, and in many 
places obliterated by landslips, and often, where the distance 
between the trees was not sufficiently wide to admit between 
them the larger packages, a halt had to be made for the 
obstructing stems to be felled. Our intended halt for the 
night was a forest hut ; but none of my convoy knew where or 
how far distant it was, if it existed at all. As the day wore on 
I became very anxious, for tigers abounded, and we had been 
crossing and following the fresh tracks of a herd of elephants 



IN THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO. 163 



all day. As it was Christmas time, and we were near the fifth 
parallel of south latitude, darkness was due shortly after six 
o'clock. 

At half-past five I desired to encamp for the night, hut 
the ground was so wet and the leeches so numerous that the 
carriers begged me to keep on. The more heavily-laden 
porters had fallen gradually behind out of call, and those near 
me had become very rebellious under the distressing condition 
of things. Suddenly, even though expecting it, darkness fell 
on us, so dense that I could not see even the outline of the 
porter immediately in front of me. Buoyed up, however, by 
the hope that after twelve hours' march the hut must surely 
be near, we plodded on, till compelled by the ruggedness of 
the road to halt, with the intention of m akin 2 a torch to liMit 
the rest of our way. 

The only dry wood within reach was the interior of the 
bamboo, on which the baggage was slung. One of these Mas 
hastily undone and cut up, but no one had a dry match ! 
My own stock was with the part of the baggage in the rear. 
My servant, however, had a flint and some tinder, with which, 
after a great struggle, he managed to light a cigarette. The 
only thing possible now was to try to make the cigarette 
ignite the dry scrapings from the interior of the bamboo. At 
length they caught ; and hope brightened with the rising 
smoke ; but a big raindrop drowned them both. For nearly 
an hour we laboured in vain to " make " fire, and the idea of 
lighting a torch or of proceeding further had to be abandoned. 

The porters had thrown themselves on halting on the wet 
ground, and were fast asleep. All of us were drenched, but 
with, the part of the baggage by me was, luckily, my water- 
proof sheet, containing a change of clothes and my Ulster-coat. 
After several attempts to adjust the proper garments to the 
respective portions of the body for which they were made, and 
throwing the waterproof sheet over my head, I sat down on a 
box to brave till morning the rain and the beasts of the forest, 
my hands thrust deep into my Ulster pockets. To my delight, 
my fingers found a piece of linen cloth bone dry. Starting up. 
I roused the man with the flint and rasp. We hammered away 
industriously for a weary length of time; at last wc were 
rewarded — the tinder had caught. It is impossible to relate 



164 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



in words how anxiously I nursed thai fledgling fire ; how 
tenderly I held it in the hollow of my hands while my " boy " 
fanned it gently ; when it had grown a little, how we reared it 
in a hat before transplanting it to the ground where it almost 
expired from its cold touch, but the immense native umbrella- 
like hat shielded it till it was able to take care of itself. 
All hands were then roused to gather wood, and we had at 
length the satisfaction of feeling that the tigers would give us 
a wide berth, and no elephant, unless a rogue, would trample 
us down. Except a handful of rice at the ford, neither myself 
nor my men had tasted food since dawn, and, possessing a fire, 
we were hopeful that we might cook also ; but, of course, 
the eatables were in the other part of the baggage ! There 
was nothing, therefore, to be done but to sit down with what 
patience each could command and wait for morning. 

If things were the opposite of comfortable or bright for my 
companions, I myself felt not a little compensated by the 
singular appearance of the forest, Avhich was everywhere phos- 
phorescent. The stem of every tree blinked with a pale 
greenish-white light, which undulated also across the surface 
of the ground like moonlight coming and going behind the 
clouds — from a minute threadlike fungus invisible in the day- 
time to the unassisted eye; and here and there thick dumpy 
mushrooms displayed a sharp clear dome of light, whose 
intensity never varied or changed till the break of day ; long 
phosphorescent caterpillars and centipedes crawled out of 
every corner, leaving a trail of light behind them, while fire- 
flies darted about above like a lower firmament. Trying to 
conceive what were the respective benefits conferred by this 
wonderful luminosity on these so widely separated species 
of living things, I dozed off to the lullaby of the weird forest 
moan, the clanging " kang-kang " of the horned frogs, and 
the not unmelodious wail of some night bird. 

Break of the next day showed us in what a miserable spot 
we had encamped— on the edge of a rocky cliff, under the 
drip of the trees, not below their shade. We gathered together 
the scattered articles of baggage, which had been deposited 
anywhere and everywhere. Near me, hanging by its feet 
to a carrying-pole dead, drowned by the rain, I found the 
fowl for which I groped about, listening for its cackle 



IN THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO. 165 



the evening before. Resuming our journey faint and in 
low spirits, we reached the dammar-gatherer's hut within 
an hour's walk. The dead fowl, hastily boiled with a little 
rice which had soured in the rain, was partaken of without 
complaint. The nearest baggage came in some two hours 
after us, the porters having camped without fire or shelter 
not far from myself, but the heavier part did not arrive 
till late in the afternoon, and not until I had sent out a 
relief convoy. When it arrived the men were too tired to 
proceed further that day, so we spent the night where we were. 
At sunset we feasted luxuriously, we thought, on the solitary 
fowl belonging to the owner of .the hut, carefully reserving a 
limb for next day's breakfast. 

The remembrance of our dismal surroundino-s on that 
evening haunts me still — a miserable hovel gauntly raised 
like a railway signal-box on high posts, in a clearing in the 
heart of the forest, amid the wild and melancholy confusion of 
felled trees, and with our view shut in by grey fleecy rain- 
clouds hanging in banks on the hills and low down on the 
tree-tops. The screaming of the cicads and the " koo-ow" of 
the Argus pheasants seemed more mournful than usual ; there 
was nothing lively anywhere to relieve the gloom. In the 
little space which they had respectfully railed off for me I 
retired early to rest, and slept comfortably, notwithstanding tbe 
smoke from a wood fire and a spluttering dammar lamp, the 
steam from drying clothes and the aroma that filled the cabin, 
into which twenty-eight of us had managed to squeeze. 

Next day the grey morning had hardly appeared before we 
were again on the march, striding along as fast as the deep 
tracks made by a bevy of elephants which had traversed the 
road the night before, permitted us. Mr. Wallace, in his 
' Malay Archipelago,' says "of the great Mammalia of Sumatra, 
the elephant and the rhinoceros, the former is much more 
scarce than it was a few years ago, and seems to retire rapidly 
before the spread of civilisation. About Lobo Raman [a 
district more to the north-east in the Palembang Residency] 
tusks and bones are occasionally found, but the living animal 
is now never seen." In the district I was traversing the opposite 
seemed to hold. Within twenty miles of Telok-betong I have 
crossed a wide area over which elephants had committed 



166 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



depredations but a few hours before my coming. The village 
people in these districts complained of the constant ravages 
done by them in their fields and pepper gardens, while the 
forest everywhere abounded with their tracks. Of the rhino- 
ceros, on the other hand, I saw traces only a few times. 

Some miles on in the forest we came upon a large stone by 
the side of the path, supposed to possess some influence over 
things terrestrial, for, as each of the porters passed it, he 
plucked a handful of leaves and, placing them on the stone, 
prayed for a dry day and good luck.* Whether it was through 
the influence of the stone or not we got a dry day, and I 
only wished that we had met with it somewhat sooner. All 
that clay we pushed on by the side of the Semangka, which 
glided past us deep and noiselessly through a level plateau, 
crossing more than once from the one side to the other by 
some giant tree that had fallen from bank to bank, through 
dense forest in a sombre winding lane, beyond which we 
could sec nothing but blinks of the sky, except where now 
and then it opened out on pretty sandy beaches which swarmed 
with species of metallic tiger-beetles and sand-bees, and where 
Sulphur (Terias) and Swallow- tailed butterflies (Charaxes and 
Appias), in gyrating flocks played on the damp ground by the 
water's edge. 

Towards evening, emerging from the forest, our eyes were 
delighted by the sight of a small cluster of houses, the village 
of Bumi-padang, " the field of the world," lying a mile off, in 
a large open alluvial amphitheatre. But, the path suddenly 
giving out, presently we found ourselves floundering to the 
thighs at every step in a deep morass swarming with enormous 
leeches, out of which we could not extricate ourselves, as it 
seemed to stretch in every direction except behind us. On 
observing us the head of the marga and his chiefiings, with 
the usual crowd following, came out to welcome and attend us 
back to the village. They came to the edge of the bog and 
sat down to await us ; and doubtless the sight of our scattered 
cavalcade floundering in the slough afforded them not a little 
amusement— it was ludicrous enough to ourselves. 

Here I dismissed the porters brought from the coast, and 
with a new retinue pressed forward with the break of day. 
* Sec below in the closing Chapter of this book. 



IN THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO. 167 



The road towards the high plateau of my destination rose at a 
steep incline, and with the rain that had recently fallen was 
horribly slippery; but the worst road has always something to 
brighten it, for where it approached or rose above 2000 feet I 
was gratified by finding broad fields of brightly coloured 
purple, yellow and white balsams, and close to the edge of the 
path many low herbaceous Cyrtandreae, a family with chaste 
foliage and flowers; tall terrestrial orchids of numerous 
sorts, and many species of ferns. At dark we entered the 
village of Batu-brah, and I found ready for me, as the news of 
my coming had preceded me, a royal— compared with my late 
experiences — sleeping apartment in the Balai, with a table 
groaning under a load of fruits. 

In the morning I was agreeably surprised by finding myself 
in a village of a character quite different from any that I had 
yet visited in Sumatra. The houses were high, large, and 
substantially built of planks raised for five or six feet on im- 
mense pillars formed of the largest trees of the forest, with 
pyramidal roofs, surrounded by an elegant ramshorn-like 
ornament universally used in the district, cut out of pumice 
blocks or of tree-fern roots, with a piece of mirror or a bright 
stone let into it to glitter in the sun. I did not camp here, 
but continued to Kenali, the capital of the marga, a large and 
very old village some miles eastward. Both sides of the road 
were fully cultivated with coffee, rice, but principally tobacco, 
for which this region of Sumatra is famed. Indian corn is 
also grown in considerable quantity, along with European and 
sweet potatoes and cabbages of excellent quality. 

On our way we crossed a small tributary of the Semangka, 
which, at a little distance below the ford, narrowing from a 
river of thirty yards to one of a yard or a yard and a-half 
wide, dashed itself into a frothy torrent down a narrow rocky 
gorge in a series of falls for about 100 feet into the main river. 
The falls reminded me of those of the Clyde at Stonebyres ; 
they are more picturesque, but less imposing from the diffi- 
culty of viewing them from below where the cascade plunges 
into the main river. The road from Batu-brah to Kenali runs 
along a high plateau of about 3000 feet above the sea, extend- 
ing between the Barisan range and the volcanoes of Besagi 
and Sekindjau, and is composed of mingled clay and a sandy 



168 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



pumice-stone tufa which, mixed with the black humus from 
the forests of centuries, has given its great fertility to the 
soil of this region. 

The village, situated on a high bluff looking down on the 
river, is one of the oldest in the district, and is certainly one 
of the finest, cleanest, and most elegantly arranged that I had 
visited. One of its most noticeable features was its decora- 
tive art. The massive pillars, as well as the super-imposed 
beams and framework of the dwellings, were entirely covered 
with rich, intricate, and really beautiful carvings in an 
extremely hard black wood, which, after one hundred and fifty 
years by their data, appeared perfectly fresh and sound. The 
supporting beams, which rested on the pillars, projected some 
feet beyond the corners, and were ornamented with carved 
terminals, somewhat like the figure-head of a ship. A broad 
stairway of wood, sometimes with rails elaborately carved, 
led up to the doors. The windows were constructed of solid 
blocks of wood cut into oval or straight apertures, which 
could be closed by a correspondingly cut and rotating piece of 
wood in the inside. The divisions between the apertures were 
ornamented on the outside with different colours or inlaid 
with elegant designs in mother-of-pearl. The sides of most of 
the houses were made of panels of wood let into a grooved 
framework and accurately fitted, with the aid of very few tools, 
and often without a single nail. The Balai, always the best 
looked-after building in a village, was covered everywhere 
with rich carvings. 

Finding to my disappointment that Kenali was too far from 
the Besagi Mountain where I wished specially to collect for 
a time, to suit as my headquarters, I was reluctantly compelled 
to remove to another village nearer its foot, some nine or ten 
miles further on. 

Descending two hundred and fifty feet from the village, we 
reached the level of the river, and proceeded along its bank 
on a narrow alluvial flat for several miles by the edge of rice- 
fields, beautifully cultivated in quadrangular plots rising in 
gentle terraces, from which the irrigating water of the higher 
beds was conveyed by a neat contrivance of bamboo pipes 
passing under the dividing dykes and bent upwards to dis- 
charge in the lower terraces as low fountains, which had a 



IN THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO. 169 



pretty effect in each of these miniature green-walled ponds, 
whose surface, save where the fountains played and for the 
silent circles of each outflow-vortex, was unbroken by a single 
ripple. As the terraces rose but little above each other, the 
blue sky was reflected as in a mirror along the whole valley, 
while the bright green of the young corn peeping up above the 
surface, by giving a green colour to the mirror without in the 
least breaking to the eye the placid surface of the water, or 
interfering with perfect reflection of the ever-changing face of 
the sky, produced a beautiful effect impossible to describe in 
words. Here and there, adding life to the scene, in the midst 
of these fields were smoking cottages embowered in groves of 
Eriodenclron and Acacia trees. 

Fording the river, the road took us, after a steep ascent, for 
several miles along almost a knife-ridge under a grand old 
avenue of virgin forest, at whose termination I half expected 
to find a stately castle or an ancient ruin. As we approached 
the village the forest became less dense, and we passed between 
a line of tall red-leaved Hanjuangs (Cahdracon Jacquinii), 
a shrub sacred to their graveyards. Under this avenue of 
mourning, just outside the village gate, was laid out that one 
institution, at all events, common to the most exalted civilisa- 
tion and the most debased barbarism — the Home of the dead. 
Each little mound, often surmounted by circular ornamented 
pillars of wood diverging from each other at opposite ends of 
the grave within a fenced and neatly tended inclosure, was 
planted with Crotons and beautiful-leaved shrubs. 

The village itself surprised me not a little. It might have 
been a feudal castle. As its name, Hoodjoong or " the village 
on the verge," implies, it was situated at the extremity of 
the long narrow ridge along which I had come, and was in- 
accessible, owing to precipitous slopes dipping down into the 
deep valley on all sides except on the one we had approached 
it by, and there the road, rising in a short steep incline, passed 
into the village under a narrow gateway cut out of the soft 
tufa which hid the village till it was passed. All that was 
wanted to complete the picture was a battlemented tower or 
two over it, and the chains of a drawbridge and portcullis. 
The village looked down into a deep alluvial valley laid out 
in rice-plots along the banks of a stream whose double sources 



170 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



could be seen as a couple of waterfalls, like long white streaks 
high up in the face of the Besagi, which formed the back- 
ground of the view. 

The villagers employed themselves chiefly in the cultivation 
of tobacco, sold under the name of Kanau tobacco, which, 
though not the true article, is little inferior to what is grown 
on the borders of the lake of that name. Great attention was 
given also to the cultivation of rice, which they grew as in 
Java, on the wet system, in plot-divided terraces. In Java 
the plots are allowed to run dry after the fields are harvested ; 
but here not so, as they were kept carefully stocked with small 
fishes, which afforded to their owners a large food supply, while 
the mollusks, which infest the sides and bottom of these tanks, 
are abundantly eaten by the natives, who obtain from their 
calcined shells the lime for their betel-chewing. Several deep 
plots were entirely appropriated to the propagation of fish, and 
in them Water-lilies (Symnanthemum) and other aquatic plants 
grew in great luxuriance, dotting the surface with their large 
white and pink or yellow flowers, and giving to the fields the 
appearance of a garden. 

The only periods when a really industrious spirit seems 
to prevail among these people are during the planting and the 
reaping seasons. Then the whole family — men, as well as 
women and children — turn out to assist, and remain in the 
fields from morning till dusk. 

Before beginning to plant the crop, a charm is placed in a 
favourable and fertile spot in one of the plots, in order to secure 
a good harvest. Four of the finest ears of paddy from the pre- 
ceding crop are stuck into the ground in the form of a square, 
and by the side of each a little wand of the leaf of the Areng 
palm, to whose extremity is bound a little packet of cotton- 
wool inclosing a few rice -grains of large size ; in the centre of 
the square is planted a stem of Sasangai grass (which has a long 
and many-corned ear), with a fruit-bearing twig of the Jambu 
(Myrtacec-e) on each side of it. This, being interpreted, 
means : " May the rice of which this is a sample here grow 
in these fields stout and strong, and with heads as fruitful as 
this Sasangai, with corns as large as this sample, and as sweet 
as the Jambu." In the harvest time this little square is left 
to the end, and the lucky sheaf is carried last of all. This 



IN THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO. 171 



reminded me of the "claik sheaf" of the northern counties of 
Scotland, for which a rich scytheful is selected, and of the 
superstitions attaching to its cutting. The fields must present 
here a picturesque sight in the reaping season, and one I 
should have liked to see, for the harvesters in their many- 
coloured garments and hats stand in the water amid the yellow 
grain and push before them narrow-pointed skiffs to receive 
the heads of corn as they are snipped off. 

At other seasons of the year the people are lazy enough — 
that is, the male portion of them ; — for the women almost 
entirely look after the dry-ground crops, the tobacco, coffee, 
maize, tvc, and daily go to the fields to fetch the produce, 
returning with enormous loads in baskets suspended on the 
back by a cord across the forehead. The sole delight of the 
men is in tending their gamecocks. The villager carries one 
with him wherever he goes ; and whenever his hands are free 
he may be seen with it under his arm, patting and stroking it. 
It is generally tethered by a cord to an elegantly made peg 
in some shady spot near the house ; and, should another cock 
attack his captive pet, its owner will rush to its rescue more 
speedily than he would to the cry of his child. 

Here and throughout the district goitre was extremely 
prevalent, nearly twenty per cent, of the people being affected. 
It is ascribed by some to the great loads carried by the women 
on their foreheads ; but they did not seem more subject than 
the men. I saw even children of seven and eight years of age 
with the bejnnnino; of the disease. The natives themselves 
ascribe it to the soil, but why they could not say. I was told 
by the head of the village that in the Makakau district (to 
the north) which is notorious for its goitre, seventy per cent, 
are affected. The soil of the Hoodjoong district is a sandy 
pumicestone tufa. It is held by some authorities that the only 
important point established as to the rocks in which goitre 
does not occur is the absence of limestone and metallic im- 
purities, and that endemic goitre coincides with metalliferous 
deposits, iron pyrites being in the fore rank. Later on in my 
journey I found on the Kawas river far less goitre, where we 
have Silurian rocks and some limestone and metalliferous- 
iron pyrites and gold — strata than on this pumicestone plateau, 
which is non-metalliferous. 



172 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Laid up for some weeks from ulcerated wounds, I was 
unable personally to do so much on the higher parts of the 
Besagi as I could have desired. From what my hunters and 
collectors brought in, it was evident that its elevation corre- 
sponds very nearly with that of the Tengamus — about 7000 
feet — in the Lampongs ; myrtles, ericas, rhododendrons and 
moss-loving orchids, and high-growing species of Melasto- 
macese were among the most characteristic plants. It was 
trying to the temper to hear accounts of abundant tracks of 
the fine goat-like antelope (Capricomis sumatrensis) whose 
footprints I had so wistfully followed on the Tengamus 
without success. The return of my bird hunters, however, 
was always for me the great event of the day. As birds 
were very abundant, my collection increased rapidly. Among 
the more interesting species may be mentioned Orescius gouldi, 
one of the Trogons, the orange of whose breast washes com- 
pletly out in spirit of wine ; Criniger gutturalis, two species of 
Myophoneus (M. melanura and M. dicrorhynchus), which in the 
evening flitted about from stone to stone with a loud whistle, 
the former quite endearing itself to me by its blackbird- 
like form and habits ; Polyplectron chalcururus, one of the 
Pliasianidoe ; and Arborophila personata, a little partridge, 
differing from the type in being more bluish-ash on the breast 
and more closely barrred with black on the back. 

I was, however, able to entomologise among the sunny avenue- 
like roads that for several miles led away from the village, 
where flocks of Cyrestes (Nymphalidte), spread their chastely 
marked wings flat on the ground, and delicate Lycsenidee 
disported in great numbers ; of other Lepidoptera the more 
interesting species may be named : Callidida javanica, which 
emitted a strong and disagreeable odour ; Melanitis suradeva, 
on stumps of trees under the shade ; a fine new species of 
Amnosia ; Eurhinia fulva, lately discovered in Tenasserim by 
my friend Captain Bingham ; one of the prettiest species of the 
Ecophoridse ; two new species of that curious genus named by 
Butler Homopsyche from their singular resemblance to a Eomo- 
pteron, and for which I at first took them ; and Botys deductalis, 
a species known also from Ceylon, an island with which Sumatra 
seems to have many species in common ; in Telok-betong I 
netted a small moth at light, Pentacitrotus transversa, also 



IN THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO. 173 

represented in Ceylon. Frequenting dark-coloured tree-stems, 
I observed (and secured) some fine specimens of flocks of 
Amnosia decora. It has a curious habit of settling high up, 
then running down the trunk, stopping at intervals flapping its 
wings ; then flying off to a neighbouring stem to perform the 
same manoeuvres. A few miles from Hoodjoong I captured 
the Easemia belangeri spread out on broad leaves of Scita- 
minese. It emits a powerful odour of cloves. Several species 
of lepidoptera mimic members of the Agaristidse, but I did 
not discover here if Eusemia belangeri had a double. From 
the island of Nias (on the west coast of Sumatra) Mr. Butler 
has recently described {Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., July 1884) 
a moth, a species of Euschemidas (Panoethia timuJans) which 
mimics Ophthabnis decipiens (of the Agaristidse) ; while in 
Amboina, Ophthabnis lincea (which belongs to the same family) 
is mimicked by Artaxa simulans (of the Liparidse). 
13 



174 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



CHAPTER IV. 

SOJOURN IN THE PALEMBANG RESIDENCY — COntilUiel. 

Leave Hoodjoong — Denudation — Great Arums — Sukau — Chiefs of the Ranau 
re crion — Tandjonsr-djati on the Eanau Lake — The high temperature of the 
water — Birds, fishes, interesting insects — Banding Aaong — To Mtiara 
Daa — Through Kisam — -Geological notes — Kisaiu villages — Coat of 
arms — Writing, dress, religion of Kisam people. 

Leaving Hoodjoong in the end of January, I proceeded north 
eastward towards Mount Summing and the Eanau lake 
district ; repassing on the way Kenali and Batu-brah, I crossed 
the Sernangka river near its head-waters, as a small stream run- 
ning in a very deep valley of soft sandstone. In descending 
the face of the valley the gigantic results of denudation were 
very striking, where the rain of only one season had been 
sufficient to excavate enormous ravines. Even the rain of a 
few days had newly washed down thousands of tons" weight 
from its slopes. From this cause the whole country was 
exceedingly picturesque, sculptured out into singular and 
rugged outlines, steep gorges and precipitous valleys. From 
such a landscape one is able to picture faintly the effect of 
this vast levelling agent working ceaselessly through cycles 
of time, in carving and changing the face of the country and 
in planing down the mountains and table-lands, even where 
protected by virgin forest. 

From the crossing of the Sernangka river the road to the 
northward rises to the watershed of the rivers which fall on 
the one hand south to the Sernangka Bay, and on the other 
into the lake Ranau and thence eastward by an arm of that 
immense river system which drains the whole eastern side of 
the Barisan range for more than 200 miles due north, and dis- 
charges itself into the Java sea below the queer half-floating 
town of Palembang. This mountain road, 3000 feet above the 



IN THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO. 175 



sea, led me across as pretty and picturesque a piece of country 
as one could wish to travel through, winding round the head of 
deep glens, with occasional gorges to right and left which have 
left only three feet of ridge-path between them, and alon^ the 
face of forest-clad precipices, hundreds of feet deep below 
which flowed hidden streams whose murmur bubbled up from 
among the trees as a pleasant music. In descending from the 
plateau I found at about 2500 feet, growing in sandy soil where 
it seems best to flourish, several stems of the giant arum 
( Amorplwphallus titanum) one of the largest known herbs. The 
biggest of these specimens measured seventeen feet in height. 

Descending from the northern face of the plateau, I was met 
by the chief and under-chiefs of the marga, at some distance 
from the village of Sukau, where I was to spend the night ; 
and at the boundary of the village I was greeted by a crowd 
of the inhabitants and a band consisting of three youths — one 
in the middle fingered a flute which he had newly cut from a 
bamboo, the two others each beat a small bronze <zo\\<z both 
of them cracked, which they carried in one hand suspended 
before them by a cord, tinkling it with a short twig in the 
other — who played me to the Balai to the notes perhaps of 
their margal anthem. Providentially the stateliness of the 
occasion made conversation out of place, otherwise, had it been 
necessary to open my compressed lips, I would have shocked the 
fathers of the people by the heartiness of my mirth, for never have 
I taken part in so ludicrous a procession with so solemn a 
countenance. Consider its composition : the musical advance- 
guard as I have described ; the central figure under a hat as big 
as an umbrella, in garments the worse of repeated conflicts with 
the thorns and thickets of the forest, seated on a small steed 
caparisoned in a bridle with more knotted cords than leather 
in its composition and in a saddle that required every artful 
device to keep it from falling to pieces, his long, great-booted 
legs almost trailing on the ground ; alongside on either hand 
the mute chiefs in duly solemn countenances, followed by a 
rear-guard of coolies with my baggage, and the general crowd 
of men, women and children — and who would not have desired 
to relieve his twitching pent-up risorius muscles ? 

Next morning I continued my way towards the Lake Ranau, 
and at the marches of the Kroe and Palembang Residencies, 



176 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



the confines of their territory, my hosts of Sukau took farewell, 
and I was welcomed by the chiefs of the neighbouring mar- 
gas, who conducted me to Tandjong-djati, the village where 
I purposed to spend some time. If I was the day before 
inclined somewhat to levity at the general appearance of the 
procession that greeted me, I felt embarrassed the other way 
on meeting these chiefs of the Kanau district. Sedate-looking 
men of middle age they were, dressed in neat black official 
coats, spotlessly clean collars, white starched trousers with a 
sarong girt about their loins, patent leather boots, and on their 
heads the imposing official cap, which I saw then for the first 
time, mitre-like in shape, covered with cloth of gold, while each 
carried in his hand a gold-topped stick bearing the arms of his 
Majesty of Holland, the insigna of his office. They looked 
such aristocratic personages and so faultlessly attired that I 
felt that I ought to descend from my horse and bow myself 
to the ground in return for the profound salaam with which 
they received me. 

After the usual festivities given on the visit of a white man, 
in which the dancing of the maidens, attired in their best, 
attire and jewels, is always a conspicuous feature, I settled 
into possession of my new home with a light and hopeful 
heart, for it was situated in a district considered to be one 
of the prettiest in Sumatra, by the margin of the lake 
looking out on the cone - of the Siminung ; but the very 
night of my arrival, whether by accident or by design is 
doubtful, some poisonous drug was placed in one or other 
dish of my evening meal, which induced profuse internal 
haemorrhage that nearly proved fatal to me. Happily a strong 
emetic rid me of the noxious ingredient, and a few days of 
care restored me to my normal condition ; but it is not a 
very pleasant reminiscence of the place. 

The Kanau Lake lies 1700 feet above the sea level at the 
foot of the now quiescent — if ever within historical times active 
— volcano of the Siminung. From its shape, which is that of 
two irregular circles run together, it appears to occupy the 
site of an old crater. In the centre it is of extreme depth. 
At various points round the margin nearest the Siminung, hot 
springs of 127° F. of temperature bubble up, and warm the 
greater portion of the western end from 7° to 10° higher than 



IN SUMATRA. 177 



that of the air. It is abundantly stocked with fish and 
bivalve mollusca ; but when they approach too near the 
warmer shore, where the temperature is above 100° F., the 
water instantly proves fatal to them. These springs and the 
very frequent earthquakes — no fewer than three occurred during 
my short stay— attest that, though the volcano is now qui- 
escent, the interior of the earth here is in a very unquiet state. 

Tall forest trees clothed the high margins of the lake, which 
descended here and there to grassy bays and level green 
swamps ; on the sandy margins flourished fig-trees and Ery- 
thrinas with large bright scarlet flowers, on whose crooked 
stems flocks of blue herons (Butorides javanica) and pure 
white egrets (Bub ulcus coromanius) constantly sat dozin^ out 
the heat of the day. In the early mornings they had busied 
themselves in gathering the leeches and insects from the 
backs of the buffaloes, by whom their kind offices seemed 
highly appreciated. On the high solitary trees perched 
clumsy, bald-headed adjutants (Liptoptilus), whose thin lone- 
legs always suggested the idea that they had escaped from 
some taxidermist's hands when he had just got the length of 
running the wires up their shanks. In the marshes snipe 
abounded in great plenty ; grey djoo-jooats (Tringoides) on 
the sandy beaches, and shy water-hens (Hypottenidia striata) 
among the tall flags. The lake teemed with fish of many kinds, 
the best being the semah (Leobarbus) which, when full-grown, 
is as large as the largest salmon, and the katjubang (Botia 
macranthus), a small but most beautiful scarlet- and black- 
banded fish. 

A few interesting captures of insects, many of them quite 
new species, were made here by the margins of the lake ; 
especially may be mentioned Xeropteryx simpUcior, previously 
known only from Borneo, and Heterodes ansonialis, described 
before from the far-distant Duke of York Island, east of New 
Guinea; and two splendid new species of Papdio, P. itamputi 
of Mr. Butler, and P.forbesiof Sm.ith, allied to P. alcialiades. 

The village of Banding Agong, whither I moved for a short 
time as the guest of Mr. Hisgen, the Controller of the district, 
was a delightful spot, situated at the south-east angle on a 
high but sheltered spot, commanding one of the finest views of 
the lake that can be had, exactly fronting the volcano and the 



178 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



peaks of the Tapa Skandri, or Footstep of (no less a hero than) 
Alexander the Great, whom the chiefs of these regions claim, 
singularly enough, as their illustrious stem-father. The 
industry of the lake borders, for which it is famed through- 
out the Archipelago, is its tobacco culture, which is grown on 
a loose porous earth composed of the detritus of pumicestone 
mixed with humus. The finest quality is made from none 
but the very topmost leaves of the plant, and commands a 
very high price. 

From the lake, on my next stage towards the Dempo, the 
road descended through the same picturesque country (in 
former ages probably the bottom of a Banau lake greater than 
now) all the way to Muara-dua. This town, " at the mouth of 
two rivers " as its name signifies, is situated at the union 
of the Sako with the broad Komering river, and is the 
seat of a large trade by river with Palembang in cotton, 
tobacco, rice, timber, and " birds' nests " — the edible swifts' 
nests — gathered from dark calcareous grottoes in the neigh- 
bourhood. The town, though distant 200 miles in a direct 
line from the sea, is only 400 feet above its level, and stands 
really on the edge of the great alluvial plain which lies along 
the entire eastern shores of Sumatra, formed by the detritus 
washed down from the Earisan range into a sea whose coast- 
line, retreating by a slight elevation of the land, left dry this 
broad plain, which rises nowhere throughout its vast extent 
more than 600 feet above the level of the sea. Before its 
upheaval, South Sumatra could not have been more than 100 
miles broad. Several great river systems, running in a general 
west to-east direction fan-shape in form, traverse it, and are 
laying down along the margin of the land a further deposit, 
the slight elevation of which, for some thirty feet only 
between Palembang and the Island of Banka, Avould raise the 
shallow sea into dry land. Near the town of Muara-dua I was 
surprised to net a European moth {Phragmattecia arundinis). 

My further course northward traversed the sources of the 
great arms of the southern of these systems. 

Sending my baggage on to Pengandonan by the level road 
on the low lands, I proceeded on foot thither over the Kisam 
Hills. Just above Muara-dua the Slabung river was crossed by 
a very high suspension-bridge of a most picturesque construe- 






IN SUMATRA, 179 



tion. In the form of a segment of a great circle, its floor was 
of cylindrical logs securely tied to three gigantic rattan cables 
the true supports of the bridge, fixed to the shore pillars; 
over these logs was a close bamboo basket-work pleasant to 
the nude foot of the pedestrian, railed on both sides, and pro- 
tected overhead by a close thatched roof — the whole forming 
a long hanging cage, which swayed freely as it was traversed. 
From this bridge I again ascended abruptly on to what was 
once in all probability the bed of the Kanau lake before its 
dimensions were interfered with by upheavals. The rivers I 
passed had cut deep rocky gorges, down which it required 
some care to pick one's steps, through the strata of 150 to 
200 feet in depth, showing the pumicestone tuff superin- 
cumbent on Tertiary rocks of Eocene age containing fossil 
Cyprtea, Ttredina, and Pecten shells. The whole country was 
undulating, and full of alang-alaug grass, and low second- 
growth forest which presented in itself little of interest, and 
prevented any view of the surrounding country. 

The houses of the Kisam people were of a pattern of their 
own. They were mostly of bamboo wickerwork fitted into a 
framework of wood, and slated with little boards of cedrilla 
wood. Each house had built out from it a chamber on the 
same level with it under a slightly lower roof, which was used 
as a lounging place for the owner and a sleeping room for 
visitors. The door was reached — as the houses stood on tall 
piles — by a slanting tree-trunk, in which a series of notches 
only large enough to admit the toes served as steps, and up 
which a booted traveller found it no easy matter to ascend. 
The space below the house was blocked with chopped-up wood, 
whose primary use was, doubtless, as a protection against the 
entrance of thieves or attack from below by enemies, as it is 
apparent how easy it would be to thrust a spear or other 
instrument through the bamboo floor into the bodies of the 
sleepers resting on it. The beneath of a man's house is con- 
sidered almost as sacred as its interior, and their laws attached 
supreme penalties to the crime of being found at night there. 
The house framework in most of the villages was elaborately- 
carved in intricate patterns executed with the most patient 
care. In Padjar-bulan, a very old village which I passed 
through, the decorative carving far exceeded in profusion and 



180 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



excellence that in any of the others, especially in its Balai, 
where I was greatly interested in finding what I may call a 
veritable coat of arms, carved out of an immense block of wood 
and erected in the central position, where one would expect 
an object with the significance of a coat of arms to be placed. 
From what I could learn it had such a significance in the 
estimation of the chief of the village ; for he told me that 
only such villages as could claim origin from some distant 
village could erect such a carving in their Balai. I am not, 
however, master enough of the terms of blazonry current in 
the College of Arms to describe it in fitting language. The 
shield had double supporters ; on each side a tiger rampant 




COAT OF ARMS I>" THE VILLAGE OF TADJAK-BCLAN. 

bearing on its back a snake defiant, upheld the shield, in whose 
centre the most prominent quartering was a floral ornament, 
which might be a sunflower shading two deer, one on each side — 
the dexter greater than the sinister. Above the floral ornament 
was a central and to me unintelligible halfmoon-like blazon- 
ing, but on either side of it was an " ulai lidai " (Chorus of 
bystanders : " Undoubtedly an ulai lidai "), but of what it was 
the similitude among created things, beyond suggesting faintly 
the lineaments of a scorpion, I was not pursuivant enough to 
recognise ; on the sinister of the two, however, was a man 
" tandacking " (dancing). Below the tips of the conjoined tails 
of the supporting tigers were two ornate triangles, the upper 



IX SUMATRA. 181 



balanced on the apex of the lower, which might with truth 
be described as the supporter of the whole, but whether these 
bear any reference to the mystic signs recognised by the 
Worshipful Lodges is a question that I must leave for the 
Chief Mason to settle as best he can with the Chief Herald. I 
feel inclined, however, to assert that it was as good an escut- 
cheon, and as well and honourably emblazoned, as any that ever 
emanated from the College ; and who dare say that it is less 
ancient ? The sight of that emblazoned board and its carved 
surroundings, hid away in a small little-known hamlet in the 
Kisam hills among a half- savage and pagan people, astonished 
me not a little, and added respect to my farewell salutation to 
its chief. 

The Kisam people write in a character called, from its being 
inscribed on bamboos with a jointed knife, rentjong, differing 
only slightly from that used in the Lampongs, which nearly 
all of them — women included — can read and write. During 
my journey I was able to obtain several interesting bamboos 
inscribed with their songs. These pantuns are metrical com- 
positions consisting of lines of eight to ten feet in length, 
sometimes rhyming and sometimes not ; but they are curious 
in that after every few lines one or two others which have 
absolutely no meaning in themselves, or connection with the 
composition, are interpolated ; some euphonious word being 
caught up and added to others more or less alliterating with 
it, to make a good jingle of sounds. 

The dress of the women is remarkable for its shortness and 
scantiness. As a rule their single garment is made by them- 
selves in the pattern peculiar to their district, from their own 
home-grown cotton or silk. But the cultivation of the silk- 
worm is now almost abandoned, since unrestricted intercourse 
with Palembang, and through it with the outside world, brings 
the products of foreign looms to their out-of-the-way doors 
with less trouble than they can make them for themselves. 
Thus are the waves of civilisation sweeping away the indi- 
genous industrial arts of the people, and flooding out their 
manufactures, turning the hereditary craftspeople to other 
occupations. 

The people are pagan, believing in the influence of the 
spirits of their dead forefathers. Near the village of Gunung 



182 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

Alercutt^ I came on their burial-ground, laid out in the forest 
by the pathside — a great elevated quadrangular mound, in 
length just enough to admit a full-grown body. A rough 
stone at head and foot indicated where each person lay side 
by side with his neighbour. Only the married people are 
interred in this common burying-place, in the right, perhaps, 
of their being parents of the people; all others, youths 
and infants — useless off-shoots of their race — are buried any- 
where in the forest, and always some distance from where 
their elders lie. An unmarried woman about to give birth to 
a child is compelled to leave the village and retreat to the 
forest, whence after some forty days of solitary sojourn she 
returns — never with her offspring — and the village is purified 
by the sacrifice of a buffalo. Their most sacred oath is sworn 
by placing a hand over the grave of their forefathers amid 
the incense of benzoin, or in a circle drawn on the ground : 
"May the spirit of my forefathers afflict me if I have spoken 
falsely," being the formula. The same manner of swearing 
obtains, I am told, among the inhabitants of the Makakau, 
Komering (Muara-dua), iSemindo, and Blalau (Hoodjoong) 
regions. The Kisam people swear also by drinking the 
water in which a kriss has been dipped, as well as by the 
spirit of Tuan Raja Gnawo, who has his dwelling-place on 
Mount Denipo. 






IN SUM A TEA. 183 



CHAPTER V. 

SOJOURN IN THE RALEMBANG RESIDENCY {continued). 

From Gunung Mcgang — Luntar — A surprise — River Ogan — Curious liills 
— Ornamental carving — A village fair — A cock-fight — Into the Inim 
Valley — Muara Inim — Lahat — Passumah lands — Ceremonial formulas — 
The people — Marriage ceremonies — Illegitimate births — Religion — Death 
superstitions and rites — Sculptured stones — Interesting visit, from I3en- 
coolen men. 

Taking my departure from Gunung Megang, and crossing the 
watershed into the Ogan valley at 2000-3000 feet above sea- 
level, I descended towards Pengandonan. Passing through 
the village of Luntar, I found the chiefs of the marga and a 
great concourse of people from all the region assembled on the 
third anniversary of the death of the Headman's father, to 
secure the welfare of his soul by feasts and sports. Here was 
waiting for me the Pangeran of Pengandonan, which was the 
adjacent marga. After a liberal refreshment of tea, with 
the ubiquitous Huntley and Palmers' biscuits, and a Palem- 
bang baked comfit, made principally of sago and the hashed-up 
flesh of a fish (whose large scales, dyed of various colours, 
are extensively used — and admirably adapted for the purposo 
they are — to cover or " tile " over the large leaf hats used in 
the district), and some ripe juicy oranges, I set out Avith my 
host for Pengandonan lower down on the opposite side of the 
Ogan. We crossed the river on a raft at a very beautiful spot 
at the confluence of the Laham and the Ogan. On our left 
were several curiously formed, abrupt hills ; facing us was the 
bare-topped, calcareous peak of the Riang rising sheer from tne 
bank, and just above the ferry was moored a flotilla of rakits — 
those picturesque floating houses by which the produce of the 
region is transported to the coast, which to the trader are ship and 
comfortable house for many days together on these great rivers. 



184 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



A short intercourse with the Pangeran served to show that 
he was a native far superior in intelligence and ability to 
most of the chiefs about him. Though dressed no better 
than the ordinary native, and preferring his sandals — whose 
possession is always a mark of superiority— carried behind him 
to wearing them, he had even more than usual of the easy 
dignified politeness and gentlemanly bearing of the higher 
Malays. Yet when, a few yards from the river bank, below a 
shade of trees, we suddenly came on a neat carriage evidently 
waiting for some one, so little was I prepared for his reply to 
ray surprised query, " Whose is the carriage ? " that it almost 
' took away my breath ' when he quietly but not without a 
little pride, said, " It is mine." The carriage was drawn by a 
pair of well-kept black ponies, furnished with every European 
appurtenance. It certainly was incongruous, one felt, this 
spanking pair, with bright silver harness, whirling through 
villages of poor-looking cottages without one refined taste to 
match this specimen of high civilisation in their midst. Every 
village we passed through poured out its inhabitants to see the 
bright equipage, which, though housed quite near, was evidently 
a by no means common apparition. The women stared with 
open mouth, and the children, in all the clothing nature had 
given them, raced us for a long way, shouting with all their 
might. It was evident that the Pangeran, satisfied with the 
honour of having purchased such a possession, was not much 
given to indulging himself in the use of it, if one may judge 
by the undaunted way, utterly regardless of dynamical 
principles, in which he took the most rectangular pieces of a 
road never made for a carriage. Perhaps I may misjudge 
him, and he may have so accurately known these principles as 
to be able to drive within an inch or so of the centre of gravity 
without dislodging it. He never eased up to a corner ; even 
a double right-angled " hook " was described with wonderful 
precision, if not with the utmost comfort. Holes or no holes, 
logs or no logs in the way, he never drew rein till we halted 
for good at the door of the Pasanggrahan, a rest-house which 
he himself had erected on the right bank of the river for the 
benefit of officials visiting the district. 

From the verandah of the house the scene, which could be 
leisurely watched as I comfortably rested, was one of great 






IN SUMATBA. 185 



interest. Across the river the village of Pengandonan glinted 
through the palms ; the villagers were constantly going to or 
returning with loads of fruit and vegetables from the fields in 
little boats, or poling up and down or across the river on 
narrow rafts of five or six short bamboos lashed together: 
there was a constant stream of women and children either to 
bathe or to wash rice or to fill with water the basketful ot 
bamboos slung behind them. As every one wore more or less 
brightly-coloured garments and cylindrical hats painted with 
dragon's-blood red, the scene had no lack of colour or life to 
make it a pleasing one. When the rain-torrents brought the 
river down in flood, as it did about once a day, the scene was 
still more lively. The whole population, men, women, and 
children, swarming out like a disturbed ants' nest, with 
creels, hampers, baskets and nets, dashed in up to the very 
eyes, where the force of the stream was broken a little, to 
scrape the bottoms and sides of the river for the fish (which 
have taken refuge there out of the current), allowing them- 
selves the while to be floated down the stream for some dis- 
tance ; then, running up stream again, shouting and laughing, 
they dashed in for another and another bout. These floods 
sometime^ quite cut me off from communication with the 
opposite side ; and as my cooking was all performed in the 
village, I was constrained sometimes to go dinnerless to bed. 
When a few hours' rain is sufficient to flood the river so as to 
bring down fruits, branches, large trees and (as I saw on one 
occasion) a broad slice of ground with the bamboos growing 
on it, one who has not seen it can but faintly imagine the 
volume and power of such a river after the incessant rain of 
several days. 

A curious feature of this place was the abrupt hills of 
which I have spoken. Composed of calcareous crystalline 
rocks, probably of Eocene age, they appear to have been in 
ancient times the boundaries of the ocean in which was laid 
down what is now the plain of Eastern Sumatra. The Peal* 
of the lliang, the most abrupt of them all, is the highest land 
between itself and the coast, distant in a direct line one hun- 
dred and twenty miles, and commands a magnificent panorama 
of a long stretch of the Ogan valley, running between deep 
barriers, the sun-flash on whose surface guided the i ye all 



ISO 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



along its winding course till it disappeared through a narrow 
rocky gateway into the blue sea-like plain of Palembang. 
Below, fields of young corn, dotted with small watch-huts 
which were so utterly embowered in Convolvulacete that they 
seemed to be simply immense bunches of yellow and purple 
flowers, covered the rich flats all along both banks, and 
might themselves have marked out the course of the river by 




TATA BVBUK-TALA3I. 



their luxuriant verdure. The Pangeran owned rice-fields, 
partly inherited, partly purchased, which he informed me 
were worth £20,000. He reckoned, however, that his income, 
from cotton and coffee and other fruits, but principally from 
buffaloes, was greater than from his rice-fields. 

The houses of the Ogan people were all richly carved, and 
the ornamentation is said to be peculiar to their own valley. 




TATA SIMBAR AXD TATA AW AX. 



The Semindo men (a district lying about a day's journey 
to the west) are credited with the invention of the designs; 
but the Palembangers, who are famous workers in wood, are 
generally the builders, and accommodate each district with 
the style of " tata" or ornamentation peculiar to itself, which 
it has retained for generations. The accompanying sketches 
will illustrate the designs most in vogue. On the lowermost 



IN SUMATRA. 



187 



beam, or Tailan-luan, that resting on the pillars, we have the 
carving represented on page 186, and called tata bubur-talam; 
the second figure represents the carving on the Pahatan, or 
the lower beam of the framework of the house; where the 
tata simbar commences the designs, followed by the tata 
awan, which either continues the 
whole length of the beam alter- 
nately reversed till it is closed 
again by a second tata simbar, or 
both are used throughout alter- 
nately erect and reversed. The 
interior of the raised portion is 
either left uncarved or is adorned 
with the foliage and flowers, of 
which the outlines appear in the 
design. This is the Ogan pattern 
par excellence. On the door-posts 
I found in some houses tata ramo- 

ramo (ramo means, wild beast) which is not true Ogan, but 
adopted from the Semindo people, and it is extremely interest- 
ing to observe how effective an ornament has resulted from 
the representation of a tiger or some such animal, in which the 




TATA RAMO-RAMO. 




SE1ITNDO CARVING- 



-TATA OTAR GAMOOEUNG- 
1N PENGANDONAN. 



-ON A TIO'JSE 



eye has become a floral ornament, and the legs and tail have 
developed into scrolls. 

On the last day of my stay here I spent a forenoon with my 
host in seeing the sports still going on at the neighbouring 
village of Luntar, which were preliminary to a feast which 
was to close the some twenty days' festivities— a sort of 
high pagan mass for the rest of the soul of its Chief's father. 
In the village was collected a large crowd from surround- 
ing margas and even from as far as Palembang, tl. i scene 



1S8 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



resembling a village feeing fair at home. At the outskirts 
we came on small booths for the sale of eatables, fruits, and 
sweetmeats; but everywhere else each little crowd had in 
its nucleus a gaming-table of some sort. First favourite was 
a stall where a mat spread on the ground was marked off into 
various denominations of staking, odd or even, and on any 
number up to five. Its presiding genius, with a countenance 
as stolid as the most approved banker at a roulette table, 
squatted on the ground with a saucer before him, on which 
he twirled the fatal teetotum, and with a most professional 
air covered it up with half a cocoa-nut shell so that it 
mio-ht run fair. When the " gentlemen " had all clone staking, 
he lifted the lid with a flourish, declared the fates, paid 
his losses, and gathered in his little pile of gains, without 
moving a muscle of his face. He was a Palem anger, this 
sedate banker, with a sharp eye and a cruel expression of 
countenance, and, having learned wisdom, doubtless, among 
the comers and goers of that great commercial centre, he had 
come up the water to operate on the simple natives here. His 
stall was constantly surrounded by an eager crowd of patrons, 
ranging in age from eight years to forty harvests, who staked 
with untiring zeal various sums, from the two-fifths part of a 
penny up to two or three shillings. Games of chance of a 
like nature were going on in all directions ; but I moved on to 
witness the heroic sport — the noble and national game of the 
country — Nyabung, or cock-fighting. 

The cock-pit, or G-alanggan, was a large enclosure some 
twenty feet square, railed in by stakes twelve to fourteen feet 
high, sufficiently far apart to enable those outside to see all 
that went on within. The cocks about to fight were handed 
over to the care of two officials, whose office is to direct affairs 
in the ring. By them were attached with scrupulous care long 
double-edged steel spurs, sharp as lances. As soon as the 
sound of the bedoog announced that this arena was to be 
occupied again, all other sports were instantly deserted, and the 
crowd pressed round the Galanggan. The cocks were brought 
into the ring by the proper officials, each holding his bird 
carefully with its leg armatures sheathed. Into this enclosure 
no one but the officials, the owners, and some favourite few 
were admitted. The two cocks were then held up before each 



IN SUMATRA. 189 



other by the gvilangs, who ruffled for them their neck fea- 
thers, tugged their combs, patted them on the breast and sides, 
and shook them with a tremulous sort of instigating motion, 
performed with a knack and neatness which indicated the pro- 
fessional hand. This manoeuvre whose execution is the envy 
of onlookers, is imitated by the children in the miniature 
cockerel fights that they get up before they are old enough to 
speak. When the fowls' had been thus irritated they were 
allowed, while still in the hand, to have one dig at each other 
just to put them on their mettle, and with their terrible 
armatures bared, they were set facing each other, a few feet 
apart ; and then came the charge. I shall never forget — for I 
was utterly unprepared for it from the stolid Malay — the yell 
and deafening shout of savage delight and excitement that 
arose from the up to that moment mute and eager but, to all 
appearance, unexcited crowd as the combatants rushed at each 
other, and which was kept up all the time the conflict lasted; 
nor how the gulangs, following on hands and knees, each close 
behind his fowl, watched each movement in silence with a 
glaring and excited eye — the rules of the ring prohibiting them 
from touching or reinstigating the cock during the continu- 
ance of a round — like nothing I can think of so much as the 
intense motions of a pointer close behind a warm scent, and 
at every onset they scanned their bird from side to side to see 
if it had sustained any injury. In the first combat that I 
witnessed both cocks were badly wounded in the first round ; 
one even fainted away. The seconds and supporters carried 
each their bird aside to apply restoratives, if possibly they 
might be able to continue the contest to a final issue. They 
bathed its head with cold water and administered some with a 
feather down its throat ; a cloth was held over it to keep off the 
sun, and smoking pieces of wood held under its nostrils and 
over its comb. For a time it seemed as if the worst wounded 
would have to be declared vanquished, as it was unable to 
enter the lists, but his spirit came again on instigating him 
with a strange cock for a few minutes. After the same 
preliminary patting and facing and the solitary dig, they 
were again allowed to rush at each other ; but after a few 
skirmishes the badly wounded bird turned tail and was 
declared the loser. In the second of the only two fights I ever 
14 



100 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



witnessed the combat was very short, but very fierce. Both, 
birds were sorely wounded at the commencement, but in a 
short space one rolled over mortally wounded, with a gash in 
its side through which the four ringers could be passed. After 
both fio-hts there was immediately heard the clinking of 
money, and a general rush to the Balai was made to settle 
their bets. Often £31) to £10 may be laid on a cock ; and 
in a day's gaming as much as £250 has been known to 
change hands. 

Cock-fighting is now strictly prohibited by the Govern- 
ment, which, only on special occasions, gives for a limited 
number of days permission to the chief of a marga to hold a 
tournament within his district, and for whose good conduct 
he is responsible. He is allowed to charge five per cent, on all 
transactions which take place, and a fee from all stall-holders 
as a sort of recompense for directing the affair and keeping 
order. With this percentage the Pangeran is able to provide 
a buffalo at little cost to himself, which is slain on the last day 
of this Vanity Fair, and followed by a general gormandising. 
From the nature of this whole entertainment one may hope 
that the dead Pangeran advance a full stage in bliss. 

The heavy rains that had delayed me several days here 
having cleared somewhat, I proceeded on my way northwards ; 
and, crossing the watershed of the Ogan, descended into 
the valley of the Inim, a large tributary of the Lamatang, 
another of the great branches of the Palembang river. The 
village customs in each of these great valley systems differ 
but slightly from each other ; yet each has some distinctive 
characteristic ; each has its own style of architecture ; and 
each its own pattern of garments and hat-ornamentation. In 
religion the Inim people are Mahomeclans. They bury their 
dead, however, in one large mound with the head east- 
wards ; the women lie alongside their husbands, but the chil- 
dren are buried anywhere their parents may wish, only never 
in the village mound. 

It was interesting to note how the navigability of the 
rivers influence the people even far inland. In these reaches 
I found Islamism of a purer form, and the people more 
learned in civilised ways ; while in the upland regions not 
geographically distant, such as Kisam, Makakau, Semindo 



IN SUMATRA. 191 



and the Blalau districts, which I had just traversed — hio-h 
plateaus with which communicatiou is difficult — the people 
still followed the pagan superstitions of past ages, and con- 
tinued the customs and rites of their great-great forefathers 
with little change. 

Passing through the village of Darma, where I noted with 
curiosity the skulls of divers species of animals nailed to the 
gable end of a house, which pertained, I was informed, to its 
Pangeran's Tuhang-linatang, or gamekeeper — a fact I might 
have guessed without asking (had I imagined that Pangerans 
had among their retinue such an official), since I was myself 
an inhabitant of a land where his professional brother hangs 
out as marks of his prowess a signboard just as barbarously 
garnished with the bodies of owls and hawks, weasels and 
inoffensive little squirrels, and every rare feathered bird that 
visits his neighbourhood. 

I halted for the night at Muara Inim, a lar^e villajre at 
the confluence of the Inim with the Lamatang and one of the 
important centres of commerce and civilisation in the Resi- 
dency. Once a week a small steamer comes here — 120 miles 
from the coast — -bringing mails and passengers and all the 
merchandise for the north-western Highlands of Palembang. 
It is the starting-point of the main cross-country road to 
Bencoolen and Padang, which after crossing the Inim ascends 
the western bank of the Lamatang through a rather monoto- 
nous strip of country, which I beguiled by examining the coal 
bands (of Pliocene age) that crop out at various points in the 
clayey marls on the roadside. Suddenly turning the corner 
near the village of Merapi, the traveller comes face to face 
with one of the most singular and picturesque mountains of 
Sumatra — the Cerillo Peak — which, though high, is, owing 
to the configuration of the country, not seen till one is close 
at its base. 

The Cerillo is a tall conical mountain on a somewhat nar- 
row base, rising irregularly till about 800 or 1000 feet from its 
summit, when it suddenly contracts into an inaccessible acute 
spire, like a gigantic finger pointing heavenward. I was not 
surprised to be told that among an ignorant people its singular 
shape had invested it with superstitious dread. The natives 
make long pilgrimages to it to speak with the Dewa that they 



192 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



believe resides there, ascending to the highest accessible spot, 
where incense is offered and other ceremonies performed. 

A little farther on, as I neared the village of Lahat, the summit 
of the volcano of the Dempo whither I was bound, raised its 
head in the distance. After resting for a couple of days in the 
town, enjoying the hospitality of Mr. Van Houten, the Resident 
of the district, I pressed on north-westward. After a journey 
of a few hours up the Lamatang valley I entered, on climbing 
out of the gorge on to its high bank, a landscape with en- 
tirely new features. I looked out on what appeared to be an 
immense white sandy plain, which in reality was the plateau 
of the Passumah Lands, covered with grass, but with scarcely a 
trace of a tree anywhere — one of the singular features of this 
region, and one by no means common in the tropics. It is said 
that for at least 300 years there has been no forest here ; but 
that previously, however, there were trees which had been 
destroyed by a great fire. That a conflagration should have 
burned up such an immense tract, leaving no clumps or unin- 
jured seeds of any kind in the soil to start a second crop of 
arboreal vegetation, seems very doubtful. In Ceylon however, 
in the midst of great forest regions, there occur tracts, marked 
off with singular sharpness from the surrounding forest, in 
which no trees are to be found. Perhaps the bareness of this 
plateau may be the result of some such train of circumstances, 
or perhaps it may owe its peculiarity to the effect of eruptions 
of the overshadowing volcano, towards which the plateau slopes 
gently upwards. 

At noon I reached the first of those singular gorges which 
are another characteristic feature of the plateau. Its sides 
descended precipitously to the bed of a small river which was 
running in a narrow channel cut through the solid rock, on 
which the marks of the former levels of its water were plainly 
graved, and descended under a narrow bridge that spanned it 
in a series of pretty cascades. A few miles farther, on taking 
a sharp turn of the road, I suddenly found myself on the brink 
of a precipice over whose edges I could dizzily see, more than 
500 feet sheer below me, the foaming Endicat river spanned 
by a picturesque roofed bridge. Till close on the edge of the 
precipice it was impossible for the eye to detect the slightest 
sign of a gorge ; it roamed over what seemed a nearly level 



IN SUMATRA. 193 



country. The descent and ascent were made by long difficult 
corkscrew paths cut in the face of cliffs, that were densely 
clothed with trees which from the steepness of the slope 
clung close to its sides. On again gaining the level of the 
plateau, and looking back from a little distance, the eye 
ranged over the chasm without perceiving any trace of it. 
This scenery recalled the descriptions I had read of the 
singular canons of the Yellowstone Kiver in North America. 
At frequent intervals over all the plateau I passed tabats or 
lakelets of various sizes, the result probably of slight subsi- 
dences of the ground which, curiously enough, are full of fish, 
though they have often no river running out of them. The 
same afternoon I reached Bandar, and the next day held on to 
the village of Pagar Alam. 

From Pagar Alam to my destination at the little village of 
Pau, lying 3500 feet above the sea level on the slope of the 
Dempo, where it begins to raise its majestic mass more erectly, 
was but a forenoon's march. The village of Pau was very 
small, and its Balai of minute dimensions. Without an hour's 
delay, however, I set about enlarging and rendering it habit- 
able. By the combined efforts of the greater portion of the 
inhabitants of two villages which lay within a few minutes' 
walk, we floored the place, railed off a part for a sleeping 
apartment and fitted a bed into it, furnished the outer portion 
with a table and a door, which we made out of that blessedest 
of all the vegetable productions of a toolless and saw-mill-less 
land, the bamboo ; and before night I had unpacked all my 
baggage, books, and apparatus, and settled into my neat abode 
with feelings of the utmost satisfaction and contentment after 
my thirty-five days' march. The village lay on the road 
leading to Bencoolen, and as once a week a large market was 
held near Pagar Alam, I had an opportunity of seeing not a 
few of the people of the districts towards the sea-coast, as 
they came often to the markets in the way of trade, and 
often 'passed a night in the village. As a sort of good- 
will exhibition towards the villagers, and a return for their 
hospitality they would often give a musical performance, or 
engage in a dance. One of the latter interested me much. 
The dance itself was very much like the Lampong dances, 
calm and attitudinal, but with the addition of light* tapers, 



194: A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



fixed in small saucers "held in the hands. The seriousness, 
however, of the performance was enlivened by the introduction 
of a comical element. Closely imitating in an exaggerated 
manner all the motions of the dancer, but affecting to keep 
in his rear and out of sight, was another dancer simulating the 
tool, who was quite ignored as if entirely unperceived by the 
principal performer, but at whose remarks, gestures, and 
grimaces, all the people laughed heartily. Here we had the 
simple elements of the theatrical performance — an embryo 
play with two performers. 

When one asks a Passumah man whence his forefathers 
came in the Ttmpo-dulu, in the days of yore, the reply is 
often either from Dewa, or from the sun, or from Alexander 
the Great (Sekander Alam) ; but to most of them the matter 
is shrouded in mystery. Hearim:, however, of a chief of 
a distant village specially learned in these matters, I sent 
for him to come to visit me. He was the son of a very high 
chief in their independent days, and as such, the history of 
the Passumah Lauds had been instilled into him from a boy, 
as part of the education that belonged to his rank. I found 
him wonderfully versed in all the old ways and customs of 
the Passumah people, and my only regret is that I had not 
then the knowledge on which to found many questions which 
I should now like to know replies to. I wrote down from his 
lips many of their strange ceremonial formulas, which are 
difficult to find nowadays save inscribed on some old bamboo 
or lontar-leaf, which may have happily survived the ravages of 
the boring beetle and the frequent village fires. Not the 
least curious was his account of the creation : How different 
sorts of birds, with curious but not meaningless names, pro- 
duced eggs from which in the fulness of time escaped the 
solid earth and the sky, the moon, the stars and the sun ; then 
the grass plains and the forests, the sandy shore and the coral ; 
how the sky wept and there came the rains and the deep sea ; 
how then the Dewas were, and the hierarchy of good gods and 
the company of evil spirits ; how the Dewas reproduced and 
marriage was ; Adam married with Uwo (Eve ?), the earth 
married with the sky, and the mist with the clouds and Allah 
gave conception to all things. 

The Passumah people are a tall strong race, with well and 



IN SUMATRA. 



195 



intelligently moulded faces ; the nose with a rather prominent 
and straight dorsum, the eyes sunk deeply in the head, the 
cheek-bones projecting, but without the prominent thick lips 
so distinctive of the Malay face. They are very independent, 
somewhat surly in heart and desperately lazy people ; not 
very friendly inclined to their neighbours in the adjoining 
districts. They are by no means dishonest, and live peace- 
fully among themselves. Their children are lively and 
amused with little ; but neither of their parents trouble them- 
selves much about them after they are old enough to run 
about by themselves. They were rather afraid to allow me to 
submit their length and breadth to the test of the measur- 
ing-line, dreading lest the measure of their bodies should 




FASSTSIAH BRACELETS OF SILVER, SHOWING THE ORNAMENTATION DERIVED 
FKOM THE YOUNG SHOOTS OF THE BAMBOO. 



bear some sinister relation to the span of their existence. 
After giving, however, the most pacifying assurances, I found 
ten men and five women bold enough to risk the danger. 
The average height of the men was 5 feet 4 - 15 inches, the 
length of his arm 1T23 inches, and of his forearm to the tip 
of his longest finger 2 feet 5'1 inches, while in the women the 
corresponding measurements were, 5 feet 075 inches in stature, 
11-35 inches in length of arm, and 2 feet 385 inches of 
forearm. The tallest man was 5 feet 8 '25 inches, and the most 
herculean of the women 5 feet 2-75 inches. 

The men dress as in other districts. The women, especially 
the maidens, are strong, well proportioned and well developed ; 
many of them are very good-looking, having, what is rare among 



196 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

the Malay races, characteristically marked red cheeks. They 
wear usually only one garment, a loin-cloth fastened below the 
breasts and reaching; to the middle of the thigh. Their arms are 
decked from the wrist to the elbow with tiers of silver bracelets, 
and the lower joint of every finger with as many rings as it 
can hold, but they did not exhibit any delicate ideas about 
spoiling their lustre, and, notwithstanding the incongruity 
of the combination, I have Often seen them grubbing up roots 
with their jewelled lingers, and filling baskets with earth to 
the clang of their bracelets. 

Marriage between members of the same village or village 
cluster is prohibited among the Passumah people ; in some 
districts even those of the same marga are within the bonds of 
consanguinity recognised by them. The two forms already 
described at page 151 as practised in the Lampongs I found 
existing here also : the one by simple purchase ; the other 
(ambil-anak) by which the father of the bride adopts his son- 
in-law into his family, more as a slave, however, than as a 
son.* The position of the man married by the latter arrange- 
ment recalls in his utter subserviency to the woman — her 
property never passing to him as long as the marriage bond 
remains, and his children always hers — the insignificant and 
pitiable position of the paterfamilias among the Egyptians 
under the Ptolemies, in which "the woman owned all and 
ruled all ; the man was a helpless dependant. As a child he 
was the property of his mother and as a married man the 
pensioner of his wife." t 

On the day of the marriage the youth and his bride come 
before the Head of the village, who is as it were both king and 
priest. After offering to the Dewa incense of benzoin, and 
sprinkling over them rice yellowed with curcuma powder, he 
reads what may in truth be called their marriage service, a 
long and singular formula of great interest, called " Sawe 
berdundun," which I had the good fortune to obtain a copy of 
in the rentjong character inscribed on a bamboo. It is a 

* This is really a remnant of the ancient M-itriarchal System, in which 
descent, followed iu the female line. Consult " Over de Verwantschap en het 
Huwelijksen Erfect nij de Volken van d-n Indischen Archipel," by G. A. 
Wilkin, also Mi.lden Sumatra, by P of. P. J. Veth. 

t The Times: " Bui ied Treasure" — Jan. 1882. 



IN SUMATRA. 197 



sort of invocation to all their pagan pantheon, among whom 
one is invoked as dwelling within the Nine Mists, to bestow 
their blessing on the union. 

Another of their curious customs I saw performed during 
my stay in the village. It happened that a young girl had 
fallen clandestinely with child (an offence of great magni- 
tude among them) whose father it was incumbent on the 
chief of the village to discover and report to the chief of his 
marga. A court, consisting of these two officials with the 
chiefs of the two neighbouring villages, was consequently 
called together in the Balai in which I was staying. The 
girl was summoned to appear, and, accompanied by her 
mother, she took her place on a mat before the chiefs. 
The head of her village, having seated himself on the ground, 
prostrated himself before a little incense-holder of burning 
benzoin, and chanted an invocation to various of their deities, 
concluding with — " Ye Beings who regulate the universe, 
make it clear whose is the fault." Then, in the midst of dead 
silence, he scattered over the girl some handfuls of yellowed 
rice-grains, and demanded the name of the partner of her 
crime. She replied, giving the name of some one in a 
distant village, and, being warned to speak the truth, she 
declared : " Banish me if you will, hang me if you will, kill 
me if you will, I can say no other — that is the truth." This 
finished the inquisition. Next morning a commission consist- 
ing of the chiefs who had formed the court with several armed 
villagers, set out, accompanied by the girl, to bring her 
charge against the village whose member had brought dis- 
grace on theirs. If the person named by the girl should on 
his oath deny the charge, the case nowadays is carried before 
the magistrate of the district. In other days it was referred 
to the arbitrament of war or of the Dewa, who would certainly 
afflict the perjurer or his (or her) village ; but, for the purifi- 
cation of the disgraced Kampong, the deity had to be invoked 
over a sacrificed buffalo. The woman would secretly as her 
time approached disappear from the village ; and when, after a 
space, she returned she would come alone. If the person 
named by the girl accepted the charge, as he did in this 
case, and was willing by either of the modes of marriage 
practised among them to make her his wife, both villages, 



198 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



as well as the Dewa, are supposed on his paying a small fine 
to be satisfied. 

The people of the Passumah are pagans ; but their pagan- 
ism is throughout tinged in form and utterance with Maho- 
medanism, which in former times may have spread to a 
slight extent among them. They have no priests. They 
believe in Dewas, who inhabit the volcanoes and the deep 
forests, and also in the avenging power of the spirits of their 
forefathers if they transgress the old customs set by them. 
In times of difficulty and perplexity they ascend to the margin 
of the crater, and in the cold of that elevated spot they pass 
one or more nights ; and once in every three years a company 
from the villages repairs to burn incense, and sacrifice to the 
Dewa some animal on the Sawah (as they name a spot just 
below the present cone), which must have been the floor of 
an old crater before the upheaval of the present one. They 
believe in the power of forms of words, and in the posses- 
sion of spells. When a youth goes away on a journey he 
leaves with the object of his affections an inscribed bamboo, 
which she daily reads (if she is able to do so), to secure his 
fidelity to her and success in his undertaking ; she then drinks 
a draught of water from it, so that the spell may amalgamate 
with her own self. In the roofs of their houses they secrete 
bamboos with various inscriptions to ward off sickness, and to 
cure it when it enters the dwelling. The surat barrfal, a 
prayer inscribed on blades of bamboo, placed below the pillow, 
will insure for a mother safe delivery ; and, when her infant will 
not cease crying, the repeating of its contents will still it. 
When an aged person is very sick, and cannot possibly recover, 
but yet lingers long at the threshold of death, they possess 
another formula, whose reading will release the dying spirit 
in peace. 

The place they hold in most reverence is the grave of the 
Nene Poyang, or stem father of the Passumah, over which their 
most binding oaths are taken; to perjure themselves on it 
would be equal to sealing their doom. If there be a dispute 
between two people of the same or of different villages, both 
retire, accompanied by their respective chiefs, to this sacred spot, 
where a fowl or a sheep or a buffalo, according to the gravity 
of the affair, is killed, which after being cut up into small pieces, 



IN SUMATRA. 199 



is cooked in a great pot. Then he who is to take the oath 
holding his hand, or a long kriss of the finest sort, over the grave- 
stone and over the cooked animal, says : " If such and such be 
not the case, may I be afflicted with the worst evils." The whole 
of the company then partake of the food. If the man has sworn 
falsely they believe that in a short time after he will be seized 
with some dire sickness, and will die ; if he plants his fields 
they will not grow, or will produce barren stems ; but not only 
will he himself be crushed by misfortune, but, in an affair of 
magnitude, all who were of his village who ate of the feast, if 
not the village also, will be overtaken by disaster. The people 
of Passumah Ulu Manna, which lies between the broad 
Passumah and the town of Manna on the sea-coast, have the 
same origin as those of the broad Passumah, and consequently 
their most solemn oath must be taken over the same grave. 
Now where a cause is before the magistrate, and it is necessary to 
swear a witness, it costs a journey of some twenty days. There 
has been brought, however, I am told, a stone from the grave of 
their ancestor to the court of the magistrate, which the people 
respect and swear over. One can perceive that ere long the oath 
of the district may be sworn over any stone, and in time to 
come it may be forgotten why they swear over a stone at all. 

When a man dies his body is brought into the Balai and there 
laid out by the head man of the village, with various ceremo- 
nial observances, accompanied by a certain form of words, 
differing with, and appropriate to, each act, their ritual for 
the dead. Having wound a cord about the body, he takes the 
dead man's head between his hands, and rolls it gently from 
side to side ; the teeth arc rubbed with a piece of sapotaceous 
wood ; the tongue is pulled forward and touched with it, the 
nostrils and the ears also; the eyelid is raised to permit a 
last look ; the arm is rotated by turning the forefinger ; each 
toe and finger is flexed ; the nails are gently scraped ; the 
juice of a lemon is squeezed over the body, which is finally 
sprinkled with water and wrapped in white cloth. The dead 
are buried without the village in a square plot— men, women, 
and children side by side, or they are placed in some unre- 
membered spot quite in the wilderness. " Are they not dead ? 
That is the end of them, and what is the good of knowing 
more about them." 



200 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



On inquiring where the dead go, I received the following 
answer : " We Ulu men (living near the sources of the rivers) 
do not follow the custom of the sea-coast people. They say 
that when their people die they go to a great field, flat and 
without any trees, on which the hot sun pours day and night. 
There they have to remain day and night, roasting (pangang), 
for a long, long time, reading day and night the Koran. After 
a time Allah comes along with a great umbrella over him, 
attended by a large company. Those that have learned best 
he calls to walk with him in the shade of his umbrella ; those 




MONOLITH AT TANGERWANGI ; PASSU3IAH LANDS. 



that have failed to learn all that they ought are beaten up 
in a great mortar, and sent back somewhere on earth, whence 
after a trial they ave again transported to the baking field, 
where a time is allowed to them to perfect themselves, when, 
if they have made proper use of their opportunities they are 
at last called under the great shade; but if, after all these 
trials, they have failed to learn, they are beaten to dust in 
the mortar and blown away. We Ulu men do not know if 
this is so or not, and we wonder how they know, for we have 
never heard of any one who has come back to tell them. We 



IN SUMATRA. 



201 



Ulu men do not know whither we go, but the breath that 
goes out of the mouth is lost two arms' length away, and we 
believe that we mix with the wind and follow it wherever it 
goes; and our bodies certainly rot away." 

Some of the most interesting objects in the Passumah Lands 
are the sculptured figures found in so many parts of it. The 
greater number of these are so broken and defaced that no 
satisfactory result can come from their examination. They 
have been ascribed to Hindoo origin by at least one writer. 




MONOLITH DISI>TEUKEn BY THE At'THOU AT TANGEKWANGI. 



Hearing that there existed two of these " men turned to stone " 
at Tangerwangi not far from my camp, I paid them a visit. 
I found them to be immense blocks of stone, in excellent 
preservation, which could certainly never have been seen by 
the writer to whom I refer. They are carved into a likeness 
of the human figure, in a posture between sitting and kneeling, 
but which it is not quite easy to make out from the way in 
which the stones are lying. Besides the two of which I had 
heard, I discovered by clearing the forest, first a third and then 



202 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



a fourth, both prostrate on the ground in such a way as to in- 
dicate that they probably fell from the result of earthquakes ; 
or by stones ejected from the volcano at whose base they had 
stood. Each figure has a groove down the back and they 
had apparently stood on a flat pedestal, with their backs 
towards one centre, Avith their faces more or less accurately 
to the cardinal points of the compass. The features of all four 
are of the same type of countenance ; but the race now living 







SFDE VrEW OF THE FACE ON ONE OF THE MONOLTTHS. 

in this region did not form that model, and it is equally 
beyond question that the Hindoo features are not represented. 
It is not certain that the Hindoos, who, as it is well known, 
settled in some parts of Sumatra at the time of their great oc- 
cupation of Java about 1000 B.C. ever were in the Passumah 
lands ; but if they ever were, there is no reason for suppos- 
ing that they should depart from their wont in Java and else- 
where, and figure in their sculptures the lineaments of another 
race than their own. If these stones are not the work of 



IN SUMATRA. 203 



the Hindoos, they must have been carved by either the then 
people of the district or by foreign sculptors. If by Passu- 
mahers, did they depict their own features or those of another 
race ? But who these former inhabitants of the Passuniah 
were, whence these foreign artificers came, and for what these 
sculptures were used, is shrouded in deep mystery. It is quite 
certain also that the present inhabitants could not conceive, 
much less execute, such works of art. 

The postures are peculiar ; the figures have the appearance 
of persons bound, bearing burdens on their backs. The ringing 
on the arms, which the natives call bracelets, must be taken, 
I think, to represent cords, as the same marks occur also below 
the shoulder, where it is not the custom of the Passumahers to 
wear armlets. The eyes are immense and protruding to a great 
degree, lending weight to this idea. The sex of the persons 
represented is also doubtful. There is almost no tradition 
respecting them, beyond that they are the handiwork of Sctrung 
Sakti and Lidah Pait (Bitter Tongue), who, wandering about the 
country, turned all who displeased them into stone ; or that they 
represent the people who in the far, far back time used to inhabit 
this land, and who possessed tails, which the renowned ancestor 
of the Passumah people, Atum Bungsu, cut off. Near Pagar 
Alam, I saw also two stones, but quite of a different kind of 
sculpture ; one was the representation of a woman sitting in 
native fashion, with an infant on her hip in the way that their 
children are generally carried about. Both hands support 
the breasts, which are apparently turgid. Her features might 
represent a Passumah woman. The other, distant a few yards 
only, is a spirited sculpture representing two children attacked 
by a python. The reptile is coiled about the children, one of 
whom has fallen, while its head is partly in its mouth. The 
action of the smaller boy, in thrusting off the snake with 
all his strength, is natural and well designed, though some- 
what wanting in execution. These stones differ in character 
so much from the others at Tangerwangi, and have besides so 
little relation one to another, that it is impossible to conceive 
for what purpose they can have been made. The only con- 
clusion is that a superior race, possessing considerable know- 
ledge and refined taste, and with technical skill not possessed 
by the natives of any part of the island at present occupied 



204 A NATURALISTS WANDERINGS 



this region ; but who they were and when they dwelt here is 
absolutely shrouded in oblivion. 

During my stay in the Passumah lands, the news that I was 
an Englishman spread far, and I was several times visited by 
people from the Passumah Ulu Manna district, which about 
the year 1820 was under the rule of the English, having been 
annexed to the East India Company's dominions when Sir 
Stamford Baffles held the Lieutenant-Governorship of Ben- 
coolen. The original document, formally recognising them as 
"subjects of the Honourable Company, and entitled to all the 
privileges of that condition," was brought to me by the grandson 
of one of the chiefs with whom the treaty was then concluded, 
carefully preserved in a bamboo case. He had heard, he said, that 
I was English, and he had come several days' journey to see 
me, for he had heard both his grandfather and his father 
tell of the greatness of the " orang Ingris." It was at least 
flattering to one's national pride to find how deep a hold 
their rule had taken on the gratitude of the people, when 
those of the third generation had come to extol to one of their 
countrymen their merciful and just government, and with 
wonderful, and of course exaggerated, tales of their liberality 
and of the profuseness, richness, and grandeur of the Gover- 
nor's court. One old fellow came arrayed in one of his most 
precious heirlooms, the English-made coat, of his grandfather, 
of a purplish serge with steel-ring epaulets and with a curved 
sabre bearing King George's monogram worked on the handle. 
He sadly bemoaned that the present Government had not con- 
tinued to him the chieftainship of his father's rnarga, and with 
the present Passirahs it was evidently a sore matter that they 
received no pay from the Government, when under the English 
rule they received seventy-five rupees a month (£75 sterling a 
year), a great sum to these people. I was very amused by the way 
one Passirah showed me his official dress. The " Company," 
that is, the present government, for the designation still con- 
tinues — " The Company gives me this " (' this ' with a most 
contemptuous curl of the lips), as he exhibited his own alongside 
the English uniform of his companion (the costume did not 
really deserve such a curl) ; " and I have to pay five rupees for 
this" (a narrow gold band on the right arm), "and five rupees 
for this " (its fellow on the left), " and five for this ' (on the 



IN SUMATRA. 205 



neck). " The Ingris gave a costume like that, with a sword 
and seventy-five rupees a month besides ! " They were always 
anxious to learn from me when the English were comino- back 
again. I dare say that if the English were back, they would 
possibly sigh for the return of the Dutch, their supposed grie- 
vances against the dominion for the time present doubtless 
being always sorest. It is not all lip praise, however ; there 
exists throughout the country a real belief in the absolute 
justice in word and deed of the English people and of the 
surpassing greatness of their nation. All the documents which 
they showed me that were given by Baffles to their fathers had 
invariably lost their wax seals, and, on asking what had become 
of them, the unfailing reply was : — -" We have eaten them." 
Each document they believed was the token of rights and 
privileges which could never be revoked, but which would one 
day, though at present in abeyance, come again to them ; and 
as the seal in their estimation is the most effectual and the 
potentest part of a Deed, they had eaten it ; and somehow, 
should the writing itself get lost, the seal at any rate had 
become part of themselves and its potency would descend to 
their heirs. 
15 



206 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



CHAPTER VI. 

SOJOURN IN THE POLEMBANG RESIDENCY — Continued. 

Passumah Lands (contd.) — The Volcano of the Dempo — Tts flora an 1 fauna — 
The crater- — Spectre of the Broeken — The view from the summit — -Leave 
for the Kaba Volcano — Gunung Meraksa- — River journey on a raft — 
Lampar — Find again the spider Ornithoscatoides decipiens — Batu- 
pantjeh — A marriage scene — Games of the boys — Houses — Tebbing- 
Tinggi — Tandjong-ning — Great trees — My party attacked by a tiger — 
Its wiliness — Its capture — Graveyard. 

The chief object of interest in the Passumah Lands is its 
volcano — the Dempo. Almost daily I explored some part of 
its vast extent, and when I left I could have profitably spent 
months more without exhausting its treasures. The village of 
Pau, in which I had my quarters, was 3500 feet above the sea. 
The first few hundred feet of the flanks of the mountain were 
appropriated by the villagers for their coffee gardens, and the 
few fields in which they now cultivate rice and roots. The 
coffee-trees, despite their being densely crowded, yielded large 
crops of a very superior kind of fruit ; above these cultivated 
fields ran a broad belt of low forest consisting of a shrubbery of 
Fluggea microcarpa and the usual broad-leaved scitamineous 
plants, in whose damp shade balsams and white-flowered Ges- 
neracese and hairy-leaved Begonias flourished. About 4000 feet 
began the virgin forest, which for 2000 feet upwards displayed 
unrivalled luxuriance, under which grew a tangled mass of 
shrubs and thorny climbers. Crashing through these, I one 
day nearly trampled on a fine new species of that curious 
family, the Rafflesiacese ; it smelt powerfully of putrid flesh, 
and was infested with a crowd of flies, which followed me all 
the way as I carried it home, and was besides overrun with 
ants, notwithstanding the long hairs which protected its centre. 
In the deep shade at this elevation few flowers except from 
the climbers and epiphytes on the trees, such as many species 
of Melastoma oftener more rich in colour of fruit than of flower, 



IN SUMATRA. 207 



scarlet Mschynanihes, and occasionally a gorgeous asclepiad. 
The varied forms and colours of the foliage, however, greatly 
relieved the general want of flowers. From the broad leaves 
of the Ginger family and the tangled thickets of palms, to 
the graceful fronds of Alsophila, Cyathea and creeping Bavallia, 
to the pandans and aroids which embrace the tree trunks and 
clothe the leafless coils of the lianes, there is a perpetual and 
refreshing variety. Here I found a curious species of Ficus, 
whose long stem-branches penetrated underground, where the 
figs were produced with their orifices only above the surface. 

Nothing could be finer than many of the crowns of flowers 
of the giant trees that I was constantly felling. One of these, 
a species of Sty rax (S. suhpanicidatum), was a mass of blossom 
which scented the region of the mountain for days after I felled 
it, and often beguiled me aside to admire even its fading beauty. 

At 4800 feet I gathered the first ericaceous plants, as 
climbing shrubs on the tops of the highest trees ; and some 500 
feet higher the ground was strewed with great blossoms four 
to five inches in diameter, from the Gordonia excelsa, a giant of 
the Ternstroemacese, or Tea family. At 6000 feet the region of 
troublesome and irritating rattans and of Pychosperma palms 
was passed, and I entered a forest of more slender trees, 
with still many grand fern-loaded specimens among them, 
especially belonging to the Myrtle family as their fallen 
corollas indicated. At 7000 feet, near the half-way camp 
I had erected, a patch of tall Pandan trees occurred on the 
sides of a gorge, but nowhere else on the mountain. Here, 
flitting over the fallen logs, I stalked a pretty little brown 
hill-wren (Pnoepyga 'pusilla), which started on the slightest 
motion into a hole or crevice, and when at last wounded it 
took refuge in a burrow two yards long, whence it had to be 
dug out. This species was known before only from the 
Himalayas and Tenasserim till it was discovered in this island 
on the Padang mountains by Dr. Beccari ; but my Dempo 
specimen was the first that had been seen in England. 
Besides herds of elephants, an occasional Siamang, and 
many tigers, mammalian life did show itself on the mountain. 
The long grey-beard lichens now covering the trees were an 
indication of the dampness of the atmosphere. Here a red- 
stemmed Begonia grew in the utmost luxuriance, intermingling 



208 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

with a white species of honeysuckle (much visited by a fine 
grey-haired humble-bee (Bo minis senex)), and which together 
formed a white flower-dotted field that accompanied us for more 
than 700 feet of ascent. At 7700 feet there was a marked 
decrease in the amount of flowers and fruit that the half-tree, 
half-shrub vegetation produced, whose foliage, I remarked, 
was of a more or less crisp and brittle texture. At 8000 feet 
my eyes were gladdened by the sight of a most lovely orchid 
epiphytic on the trees, which is apparently the true Dendrobium 
secundum;* its colour, which could not fail to catch the eye 
of the most unobservant, was of the deepest purple or mauve- 
piuk, and its bells, suspended by a double-curved petiole of 
a graceful form, hung in clusters of twelve to fourteen from 
the tip of the stems. It is impossible of course to describe 
the colour, but it was of the richest tint; the whole flower 
was of the same colour, save one bright orange spot in the 
throat of the labellum. For 200 feet upwards the trees were 
profusely spangled with them, and it was really worth an 
arduous climb to see and to gather them. It is surprising 
to how limited an area some plants are confined. I could 
find no specimens of this orchid above the narrow zone I 
have mentioned. At 8200 feet I first gathered the beautiful 
Easp (Rubus lineatus), which I obtained on the Malawar moun- 
tains in Java at a considerably lower elevation. On the 
Java mountains, from 6500 to 7000 feet, the abundance of 
various kinds of Easps formed a marked feature in the 
vegetation ; here I was struck by their almost entire absence. 
On the Tengamus in the Lampongs at the same height I had 
met with no end of Nepanthacem, and with a beautiful orchid 
of the genus Cymbidium, but here neither the one nor the 
other was seen ; one small scrap of a pitcher was indeed 
brought to me from about 6500 feet, but, though I myself and 
my hunters searched everywhere, we could find no more. 
Here and there I now found small-leaved scraggy shrubs of a 
species of Rhododendron (R. magniflorum) bearing bright scarlet 
flowers, and every further foot of ascent brought us among 
dwarfed trees, and leaner and more scraggy shrubs, while the 
moss on stone and stem grew deeper and deeper. At 8600 

* Not the Dendrobium secundum of the horticulturists, but a different and 
far finer species. 






IX SUMATRA. 209 



feet I suddenly emerged on the edge of one of the many 
gorges which deeply grooved the side of the mountain, and 
stood clear of the tall forest. 

During my progress through the lower zones few insects, 
but some very interesting forms of birds, had been noticed. 
Besides the species I have mentioned above, I shot a rare 
grass warbler (Suya albigularis), previously known only from 
Sumatra, by one example from Acheen, in the north of the 
island ; and twittering in low bushes a little fly-catcher, not 
before taken in this island — Culicieapa ceylonensis. At 
5000 feet, hopping about on fallen logs, dodging in the low 
bush tangle, a black chat-thrush (Braehypteryx atratus) with 
a bright white line over the eye, fell to my gun, which was 
not my luck in regard to the beautiful Paradise fly-catcher 
(Terpsyphone affinis) which I saw — a pure white bird with 
long black-shafted tail-feathers, named by the natives Tjabit 
Kapan which signifies the white cloth in which the dead are 
wrapped, as they believe that he by whom it is seen has not 
long to live. 

At 8600 feet the tall forest suddenly ceased, and among my 
feet I found some splended ericas of various species, the most 
conspicuous being that which the natives have named " Tree 
of the long age" (Kayu panjang umoor), a new species (Vac- 
ciniicm forbesii), and one of the most handsome of its genus. 
It was first met with as a shrub, low and compact, but 500 feet 
higher it became a tree with a circumference of four feet. 
This, with the scarlet rhododendron already mentioned, and 
many species of ferns, monopolised the mountain up to 9000 
feet, where I gathered, with perhaps more satisfaction still, a 
wee species of Gentian that expanded its blue flowers on the 
bare earthy banks. 

To obtain the full pleasure of the climb, the day must be 
perfectly clear, such as the first day of May on which I made 
my most memorable ascent. It was one of the few absolutely 
rainless days of my stay. When that height was attained 
where the forest dwindled to a shrubbery, every foot of ascent 
added to the grandeur of our outlook and to the number of 
the peaks on peaks that came in view, along whose flanks the 
clouds rolled upwards in white humps and scuds, in striking 
contrast with the intense cobalt blue of their crests tt Bering 



210 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



against a sky of the most delicate tint of sea-green. At 9700 
feet, the summit of what the natives call the Dempo was 
surmounted, whence I looked down into the Sawah, or ancient 
crater of the mountain the site of their sacred feasts and offer- 
ings, and across to the Merapi, or Firepeak, a more recent cone, 
now the true summit of the volcano. Here almost no insects, 
except annoying swarms of blue-bottle flies, were seen ; but 
the little White-eyes (Zosterops clilorata) which had accompa- 
nied us all the way up, flitted about on the Vaccinium forbesii, 
their nostrils laden with its pollen, busily performing that 
important part in the economy of nature by which vigour is 
added to the plants, and size and beauty to their flowers by 
their cross-fertilisation. 

A steep descent of 200 feet brought me to the Sawah (where 
I built a camp), whose dark brown and greyish-black sandy 
soil emitted a powerful odour of sulphur. It was dotted every- 
where with clumps of heaths and rhododendrons and plants 
with crisp dark green leaves, and with white woolly-foliaged 
species of Compositse characteristic of volcanic soil (Anaphalis 
javanica and A. saxatilis), which have a strong aromatic odour 
somewhat like that of camomile. An infusion of its leaves 
is supposed, from its sacred habitat (for it grows nowhere 
else on the mountain), to possess healing powers. The slope 
of the cone was dotted with " Long-age " whortleberry get- 
ting more and more stunted as we ascended, till, within 200 
feet of the rim of the crater, it almost disappeared except as a 
low bush of one and a-half to two feet high. The whole face 
of the ascent was covered with loose stones and pieces of 
pumice and scoriae. 

After a puffing clamber from the Sawah we gained the rim 
of the crater, looking down some 300 feet of precipitous rock, 
on what seemed a pure white polished mirror, set in a central 
basin from which was slowly rising a column of steam. All 
was quiet and placid, and I sat down a little to take in the 
details of a scene so novel to me : — a vast circular basin half a 
mile in diameter, with rocky sides of sheer precipices, display- 
ing at various places horizontal strata ; at the bottom of this 
another smaller basin, some 200 feet in diameter, filled to 
within about 30 or 40 feet of its rim with a smoking substance, 
whose surface, like burnished silver, reflected the blue sky and 



7.V SUMATRA. 211 



every passing cloud. We had sat thus for perhaps ten to 
twelve minutes when I noted that the centre of the white basin 
had become intensely black, and scored with dark streaks. 
This area gradually increased. By steady scrutiny with my 
glass, for it was difficult to make out what was silently 
and slowly transpiring, I at last discovered that the black- 
ness marked the sides of a chasm that had formed in — what I 
now perceived, the white burnished mirror to be — a lake of 
seething mud. The blackness increased. The lake was beino- 
engulphed ! A few minutes later a dull sullen roar was heard, 
and I had just time to conjecture within myself whence it 
proceeded, when the whole lake heaved, and rose in the air for 
some hundreds of feet, not as if violently ejected, but with 
calm majestic upheaval ; and then fell back on itself with an 
awesome roar, which reverberated round and round the vast 
cauldron, and echoed, from rocky wall to rocky wall like the 
surge of an angry sea ; and the immense volume of steam, let 
loose from its prison-house, dissipated itself into the air. The 
wave circles died away on the margin of the lake, which 
resumed its burnished face and again reflected the blue sky ; 
and silence reigned again until the geyser had gathered force 
for another expiration. The roar of the coming explosion was 
so awesome that such of my porters who had followed me, and 
had never been to the top before, looked the picture of terror ; 
and when the lake rose they took to their heels and fled in a 
body. Thus all day long the lake was swallowed up and 
vomited forth, once in every fifteen to twenty minutes. That 
it was not always so quiet even as now, the stones on the Sawah 
and the scoriae on the sides of the cone testified. Once in about 
every three years, and in some decades oftener, the natives 
told me, the crops of coffee, bananas and rice were quite 
destroyed by " sulphur-rain," which covered everything for 
miles round the crater. 

On its eastern side, where the rim rises to its highest eleva- 
tion, I made a hypsometrical observation ; but it required all 
my endurance to complete it, for, though a cold wind was 
blowing and the thermometer registered only 63° F., the 
sun's rays seemed to possess more than their ordinary power. 
I could feel, with acute pain, my hands, face and neck 1 >eing 
scorched the moment they came into the sunshine. 1 sue- 



212 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

ceeded, however, in obtaining data which enabled me to 
calculate the elevation to be 10,562 feet. 

I walked round the greater part of the ring of the crater, 
searching under the stones and among the shrubs for what 
signs of life there might be, pausing every now and then to 
view the extended stretch of country spread out beneath. On 
the margin of the crater a butterfly, like our little Heaths, 
disported itself; but it always eluded my net by simply flitting 
over the edge ; and among the Ericaceous shrubs a minute 
moth {? Diopoea), which seems able to maintain well existence, 
although it cannot leave its foothold on the shrubs without 
being dashed to the ground by the strong winds perpetually 
prevailing there ; a few small Carabidte beneath the stones, and 
other minute species swept from the bushes, represented the 
coleopterous life. Little flocks of the small green Flower- 
pecker (Zosterops) were the only birds seen or heard at the 
summit ; but several others were obtained in the more protected 
Sawah, among them the Himalayan Lusciniola fuliginiventris. 

As the sun began to decline the temperature decreased 
rapidly, warning us to prepare for a cold night. After I had 
put on triple suits of clothes, which made me feel no more 
than comfortable, I set about directing the preparation of a 
sheltered camp for the porters and other natives, who, unless 
ordered would take no care to protect themselves against 
the cold which at high elevations is so very frequently fatal 
to them. At sunset the temperature fell to 472° F. The 
night was perfectly clear, and the stars seemed to shine with 
a brilliancy almost equal to that of our own frosty skies, 
and to my eye certainly more clearly than I had ever seen 
them from the tropical plains. When at 4 o'clock next 
morning I went out into the Sawah, though the thermometer 
registered 47° F. (the lowest reading of the night was 42°) the 
air, which was perfectly still — its silence indeed almost over- 
whelming — felt absolutely free from rawness in marked con- 
trast to what I had experienced at sunset under almost the 
same reading of the thermometer. 

After a cup of hot coffee — at least as hot as it could be had at 
an elevation of 9900 feet, that is to say, not much above 194° F., 
we started for the summit of the cone to see the sun rise, 
under the guidance of one of the chiefs who had accompanied 



JN SUMATRA. 213 



me, picking our way in the dark over the stones and anions 
the bushes. We had hardly set out when a dense mist began 
to envelop its flanks and summit, which up to this time had 
stood out against the sky with perfect sharpness. Before we 
were able to reach the crest we could see that the sun had 
already come up, from the lighter glow of the mist in the east : 
but no view anywhere, however, could be obtained. It was 
very cold and damp, and the thermometer did not register up 
to seven o'clock more than 48-50° F., and even at half-past 
seven it had fallen again to 4550° F. Hoping that the mist 
would clear, we seated ourselves behind a rock out of the wind to 
watch the geyser below us ; and beside one of the small 
enclosures, or low barricades of stone a few feet in length, 
which were dotted all along the ridge, the sleeping places, thus 
roughly sheltered from the wind, of the devotees who come to 
inquire of the Dewa of the mountain in times of difficulty or, 
as my guide said, in hope of finding near them in the morning 
some charm whose possession would protect them against harm 
or enable them to prevail over their enemies, or to attain some 
dear object of their desire or ambition ; "but they often," he 
added, "experience nothing but the cold." 

As the sun rose a little higher and stronger, I observed on 
the margin of the crater opposite to us a curious horseshoe- 
shaped rainbow, and for some moments I was not aware that I 
was witnessing a display of the Spectre of the Broshen. Each 
person's shadow thrown on the mist was surrounded by a bright 
halo outside which was a band of mist, and the whole enclosed 
in the distinct horseshoe-shaped rainbow. At length the mist 
entirely cleared off the mountains, and we stood gazing on a 
wonderful scene half land and half sea, from the highest peak 
within the sweep of the eye; but any attempt to convey a 
picture of such varied elements can be at best but mere dis- 
jointed suggestions. 

Looking away south-east, the eye, passing over the plain of 
Passumah Ulu Manna, laid out in rice -fields in their first 
fresh greenness of May, and dotted with grove-environed 
villages, falls on the white surf of the distant ocean far to the 
south of the town of Manna, and follows it northward by its 
forest-clad margin, on which I could even discern the tide 
gently heaving, to beyond Bencoolen, until the meeting of 



214 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

sea and sky and the peaks of the Barisan draws the view along 
the northward-stretching forest of mountain tops, with their 
shaded valleys and endless lines and curves of beauty, all of 
the deepest cobalt blue, deepened in hue by contrast with the 
cloud flocks that floated athwart their flanks and summits — pro- 
minent among them the ridges of Korintji. Nearer stood out 
the Kaba, with its smoking top ; and could that sharp cone 
smoking on the horizon be the peak of Indrapura, with its 
13,000 feet of stature three degrees of latitude away ? From 
its sides the eye glided to the flat forest-clad plateau of Ulu- 
Lintang, an old inland lake-floor which lay utterly hidden 
beneath a great cloud -sheet spread out close down on its 
tree-tops, reflecting the sun like a mirror ; thence to the distant 
verge of the broad Passumah below the mountain, void almost 
of trees save a few by the ravine sides and on the precipitous 
slopes of the gorges, over which lay fringes and patches of cloud 
demonstrating the attracting power of even a slight arboreal 
vegetation. Out of this undulating plateau, with its waste of 
grass, amid which its flashing tabats looked like glittering 
specks of glass scattered over it — the eye passed to the south 
and south-western cobalt peaks and domes of the Barisan, 
studded with flocky hummocks, and followed them till their 
summits projected themselves on the Indian Ocean at the point 
where the eye commenced its survey. No art could figure to 
the mind the light and shade, the massive sheets of colour in 
the wide scene ; the thousand different pictures that went and 
came that summer's day upon the landscape's changeless out- 
lines. The grand yet dread thundering of the geyser at our 
feet, the scene of peace and mystic beauty outspread in solemn 
silence beneath and around us. To have to speak or to listen 
was an acute pain, and as distracting as a clamour of carping 
tongues in the midst of some sweet melody or grand outburst 
of music. As I grudgingly descended and the scene closed 
behind me I felt that this perhaps had been an audience with 
the Dewa of the mountain — at all events I had gained by 
communing with Nature from this high pedestal of hers. 

My future programme included a visit to the Kaba volcano, 
to the sources of the Eiver Kawas, and, if the Djambi people 
did not prove too hostile, an excursion into that Sultanate. 
As all this would at least require six months to accomplish, 






IN SUMATRA. 215 



I was forced to draw my tent-poles in the end of May, so as to 
reach Batavia in the beginning of the year 1882 in order to 
prepare for my long-planned expedition to the Far East of the 
Archipelago. 

It was with the liveliest regret that I took leave of the 
village of Pau, where I had experienced more pleasure than 
in any other locality I had yet visited. The climate was 
simply delicious. Every forenoon, at least, was bright and 
sunny, and the heat was never too great to be oppressive or 
disagreeable, while the evenings were cool and the nights cold 
enough to make a blanket enjoyable. Sickness was never 
once thought about. Altogether, but for the difficulties of 
food supply and companionship I could have wished to reside 
there always. In its neighbourhood I had gathered nume- 
rous interesting birds and insects. I had added Astietopterus 
armatus to the fauna of Sumatra, obtained Papilio diapliantus, 
Liminitls hoekii, and added to science Idas jiavipennis, and 
species of Terias, Danais, and Kallima and many of the rarest 
and most beautiful productions of the vegetable kingdom, 
especially of the giant trees and among the Orchiclacese and 
liajflesiacete. 

Ketracing my steps to Pagar Alam, I took my way north- 
eastward, and, crossing the Ayer Durian which has its source 
in the crater of the Dempo, passed out of the Passu mah 
Lands towards the Kaba. Beaching Gunung Meraksa, in the 
cleft of the Ei^ht and Left Lintang rivers, I learned that I 
might shorten my way to Tebbing-tinggi by taking a raft 
journey on the river — a mode of travel I had not before tried. 
These rafts, made of tiers of bamboo well secured together by 
pegs and rattan ropes, with an elevated platform in the centre 
out of the reach of water, are guided by two pilots with 
long oars. The Lintang river was very rough and narrow, 
interrupted at short distances by rapids over which it required 
the greatest skill and knowledge of its rocks to guide us in 
safety. We sailed mostly between perpendicular banks of 
rough marls of Miocene age, against whose cliffs in many 
places the river, descending a stony rapid, precipitated itself, 
sweeping round its base at a right angle. The danger lay in 
the raft's not obeying the working of the steersman's long stem- 
paddle, and being dashed to pieces at these uncanny orners 



216 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



where the sail being rather more exciting than pleasant I used to 
clutch my seat with a nervous grip till they were safely passed. 
All along the river's course every new bend presented us with 
varying pictures — quiet stretches of smooth black water over- 
hung with drooping trees, scenes of village life, and green 
cultivated fields. 

Ten miles down, the Lintang merged in the deep broad 
Musi, alono- which we glided rapidly with a delightful motion 
to the village of Lampar, which looked so promising a field 
that I was induced to pitch camp for a time there to prosecute 
my botanical work. 

While here I found a second specimen of that curious spider 
(Ornithoscatoides decipiens) which I had discovered in Java. 
One day when my boys were procuring for me from a high tree 
some botanical specimens, I was rather dreamily looking on 
the shrubs before me during the moments of waiting, when I 
became conscious of my eyes resting on a leaf marked with the 
excreta of a bird. " How strange it is that I have never found 
another specimen of that curious spider I got two years ago in 
Java, which simulated a mark just like this ! " So thinking, I 
plucked the leaf by its petiole, and looked half listlessly at it, 
mentally remarking how very cleverly that other spider had 
copied nature, when to my delighted surprise I found that I 
had actually a second specimen in my hand ; but the imitation 
was so exquisite that I really did not perceive how matters 
stood for some moments. The spider never moved while I was 
plucking and twisting the leaf, and it was only after I placed 
the tip of my finger on it that I observed that it Avas lying on 
its back, when with the rapidest motion, but without any 
perceptible displacement of itself it flashed its falces into 
my flesh. I have already described the habits of this spider 
at page 63. It was extremely interesting to find again, 
evidently as a constant habit, that the thin web film had been 
drawn out as if to represent some of the fluid portion of 
the excreta arrested in a drop before it had altogether run 
to the margin of the sloping leaf. There is no doubt that 
the spider must have acquired this mimicking habit by natural 
selection ; yet it is difficult to explain how these ininutiaB, 
which are not constant or essential in the model, have come 
to be so accurately copied ; one cannot believe that it would 



IN SUMATRA. 217 

have been a whit worse off had the copy been less minutely 
imitated. 

In the beginning of July I packed my Lanting and con- 
tinued my journey to Batu Pantjeh, gliding down the river 
by this delightful mode of travel, winch enabled me, carrying 
my drying-paper and frames with me, to botanise all along 
the river-side, stopping when and where I desired. 

Near this village, the country became much lower on both 
sides, showing that we were approaching the borders of the 
great alluvial plateau of Palembang. Among my excursions I 
suddenly came one day on a wide area, in the deep forest, 
overspread with coral blocks, which in some places had become 
solidified into more or less crystalline masses like what one 
sees in the basework of a coral reef. It was evident that they 
were standing, as left centuries ago by the seashore where 
they were washed through and round about by the surf; 
here corroded into crevices and bored by molluscs, and there 
excavated into deep pits, and surrounded with blocks of worn 
stones as if the tide had not long retreated from this old shore, 
to-day distant as the crow Hies 200 miles from the coast. Now, 
however, great trees were shadowing them, and gigantic figs 
twining their roots among their grateful crannies ; ferns clothed 
with graceful fronds the wasted blocks, and Begonias blossomed 
over them. To alter Tennyson's well-known lines : — 

There roll'd the deep where grows the tree, 

earth, what changes hast thou seen ! 
There where the forest sleeps hath heen 

The shore line of the noisy sea. 

I was detained here, by an injury to my foot, for many 
weeks much against my will, for the half pagan half Maho- 
medan people of the Ampat Lawang in unpleasant contrast 
to those of the other regions I had been among, were any- 
thing but friendly. They would neither give nor sell food 
of any description, except a little old rice of the worst quality. 
They even refused to carry my letters, so that I was unable to 
make known my condition to the authorities or obtain relief till 
I was well enough to resume my journey to complain in person, 
when the chief of the village was rewarded according to his 
deeds by the Magistrate. 

The Batu Pantjeh houses are of a peculiar constructs com- 



•18 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



pact and picturesque, best described by saying that they are 
furnished in front with a broad, partly roofed verandah, fenced 
round by a close bamboo wickerwork, nearly concealing the 
inmates when standing erect, and protected by a strong door, 
which is reached by a stair. With their floors on the level of 
the verandah and their doors opening on to it, are little huts 
built out beyond the edge of the verandah, for cooking pur- 
poses, for keeping fowls in, for storing rice and for other con- 
veniences, altogether forming a most convenient, commodious, 
and secure dwelling, below which, as usual, their store of 
chopped wood is kept. 

One morning I was awakened by a vigorous clattering of 
sticks, accompanied by much laughter. On looking out I 
perceived that most of the rice-blocks of the village had been 
hauled together, and that the maidens of the place were 
beating on them in concert a lively tattoo for some happy 
occasion. As each block and each stamper produced a 
different note, the resulting music was by no means inhar- 
monious. Throughout the forenoon the boys and youths, 
lounging in groups, indulged at intervals in bursts of cheer- 
ing very like our own hurrah : " Wood-icood-iuoo-dd-dd ! " 
The jubilation was on account of a marriage which was that 
evening to be solemnised in the village. Next afternoon I 
was again surprised by peals of "Woo-a's!" proceeding from a 
crowd collected near the house of the newly married pair, 
whence shortly, amid vociferous cheering, the bridegroom 
appeared, wearing on his head the cap of a Vice-chief of the 
marga, dressed in a sarong suspended by a gold-buckled belt, 
his body otherwise bare save for a sash-like cloth across his 
chest. By his side he wore a gold- handled kriss, and carried 
in his right hand a be-flagged lance with its tip sheathed — 
the wedding staff. Over his head one of his young men held a 
white umbrella, another carried his siri-box, while a drum and 
several gongs played in advance of the procession. A little 
behind him came the bride weeping, in a purple silk badjo and 
a red petticoat worked with thread of gold, attended by all 
the maidens of the village, some of whom performed for her 
the same offices as the young men did for her husband. The 
processions wended their way to the river, where both the bride 
and the bridegroom were bathed by their respective attendants, 



IT Jm\ 




1 1 / ' 



IN SUMATRA. 219 



after which they returned, preceded by an old female relative 
of the bridegroom, who spread cloths before them all the waj 
to a spot in the centre of the village. Here a couple of mats 
a little distance apart, had been placed, on the one of which 
the bridegroom and his relatives, and on the other the bride 
and hers, seated themselves, each with their umbrella and 
siri-box before them. During the intervals of music that 
attended the ceremony, the youths of the bridegroom's party 
pelted, as if slily and clandestinely, with handfuls of yellowed 
rice the bride and her attendant maidens, who returned 
the compliment, while the fowls were enticed to pick up the 
grains that fell on the ground. This was supposed to be an 
invocation to the Dewa to bless the union and grant sufficient 
food, with at least a superabundance for the fowls to pick 
up. The old relative made various inquiries at both parties : 
" Will he have this woman ? " " Will she have this man ? " 
When the " I will ! " had been publicly said and returned in 
the face of the village, she presented a lump of rice to the 
bride who took a bite, and the rest she placed in the mouth 
of the bridegroom — in token that the wife was to have the 
same board as her husband. After sitting for an hour or 
so in the face of the village, to make brothers with all the 
inhabitants, and as an advertisement of their new relations, 
the procession continued its way to the house of the bride- 
groom, where a feast was provided. The closing act of the 
ceremony was the removal by the husband of all his wife's 
ornaments and jewels, which she could never again resume 
unless she wished to commit that supreme crime in the eyes 
of her husband, of appearing to wish that she were a maiden 
again. 

All day long the boys used to amuse themselves under my 
window with a game called Lepar, that interested me much 
partly from the rarity of games among the children, as well as 
from the enthusiastic manner in which they played it. Each 
player, furnished with a quoit-shaped disk cut out of a cocoanut 
shell, played forward from a stance, so as to strike either one or 
(according to the number of players) more disks arranged on 
the ground some forty or fifty feet distant. Each played in 
succession; his turn continuing after his first three shots, till 
he failed to drive his own against any of the goal disks. The 



220 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



manner of propelling the disks was curious. The player, 
placing his shell flat on the ground, turned his back to the 
goal, and, firmly grasping his quoit between his heels, with a 
circular motion of the one leg he caused the disk to shoot 
forward, describing on its rim a cycloidal curve towards the 
goal. It was surprising with what accuracy the best players 
calculated the force necessary to make it describe a curve 
whose circumference should just pass through the disk aimed 
at. The players were divided into two unequal parties, 
the smaller being "out." As long as a player was able to 
strike with three tries the first goal-shell, and then the others 
in succession, he remained an " in "-player, and was carried 
back each time to the stance on the back of one of the out- 
players. When he failed he became an out-player, and had to 
deposit his shell at the goal to be played at by the others. If 
a disk discharged from the stance described a curve " out of 
bounds," one of the out-players croqueted it from the stance as 
far as he could, and from the spot where it came to rest the 
player's second stroke had to be made. They played with 
wonderfully good humour, and compared favourably with an 
equal number of boys at home. 1 never witnessed a case of 
ill-temper or sourness at losing, or quarrelling during the 
many days I was in the village. 

I was not very fortunate, owing to my illness, in obtaining 
many new birds, but some of the sun-birds, which frequented 
the cocoa-palm flowers and the blossoms of shrubs close at 
hand, were of remarkable beauty, especially a species of 
Ginnyris (C. liasselti) with a forehead of deep metallic ultra- 
marine blue ; its neck and back of the darkest lake, passing 
into green and orange on the rump, where the black wings 
cover it; below the wings the tail protruded, of a deep blue. 
Its neck and throat were of the richest scarlet, down which 
ran, from the angles of the jaws, two lines of the intensest 
blue. It was such a thing of beauty that I could scarcely dare 
to handle it for fear of injuring its gorgeous tinting. 

From Batu Pantjeh I moved down as soon as I was able to 
Tebbing-Tinggi, a large village sheltering under a forest-clad 
hill, with a considerable Arab and Chinese population, who 
have good shops and carry on a large and prosperous trade 
with the surrounding districts. To me, who had so long been 



IN SUMATRA. 221 



dwelling amid the monotonous life of the mountain villages of 
the interior, the frequent bugle-calls, the uniformed troops, 
the overshadowing stone-built fortress, the shop-fronts, which 
seemed large in my eyes, the substantial houses, the boats on 
the river loading and unloading cargoes, the coolies running to 
and fro with goods — this gentle troubling of the pool of industry, 
seemed to me the very bustle of a metropolis ; and as I walked 
down its one street to the Travellers' Bungalow, in my travel- 
scarred garments, great sun-hat and rough boots, I felt the 
bashfulness of a rustic adding to the redness of my sunburnt 
countenance, and as uncomfortable as if I had been planted 
down in similar attire in Regent Street. 

In resuming my journey towards the Kaba I had to give up 
my late delicious mode of travel, and change the river for the 
road. Reaching the village of Tandjong-Ning, I found that 
much tree-felling was going on in the forests pertaining to it ; 
and, hoping to enrich my herbarium, I set up my camp for a 
while in its Balai, a structure that might have held an army. 
But the village was very unsavoury, as every sort of filth and 
refuse from the houses was allowed to drop through the floor to 
the ground below. I found that my fame had reached before 
me, and that not particularly favourably. For some time tigers 
had been prowling about in the district in great numbers, and. 
as the Dempo is called the " Barracks of the Tigers," they had 
been scared from their natural home by a potent spell which 
I must have set up there when I ascended it. It was no use 
to deny the imputation — " it was well known ! " 

The village was prettily situated above the river Saling, 
which wound about below it in a deep rocky gorge, through 
banks which are excavated into long pools and deep pots and 
sparkling rapids, full of fish of fifteen different kinds (accord- 
ing to the enumeration of the village chief), and for which the 
inhabitants, who seem ardent lovers of the gentle art, angle 
with great assiduity and success with bamboo fishing-rods 
and a line of single fibre strong as cat-gut, drawn out of the 
bark of a tree. 

Where the felling was going on in the forest, I obtained 

many fine specimens, and nowhere do I recollect to have seen 

such enormous trees. Thickly scattered about on the ground 

as they were, over an area of perhaps a mile square, I died 

16 



222 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



to realise the gigantic proportions of their prostrate trunks 
till I be^an to move about and travel along thern. A human 
figure was lost among them. Standing by these trunks, my 
head often did not reach much more than to half the height 
of some of them, while their length of bare stem measured as 
much as forty or fifty yards before giving off a branch. 

One afternoon, as I was returning from this forest with my 
men who had been felling trees, walking in line one behind 
the other as is their custom, a tiger suddenly slipped from the 
jungle bordering the road, and in a moment struck down a 
youth a few yards before me. I dared not fire for fear of 
striking the youth, but his father, who was walking just in 
front of him armed with a spear, dashed on it and gave it 
a right willing thrust, which, with the threatening group, made 
it quit its hold, when it sprang into the thick jungle. It was 
all the work of a moment ; the stroke of its paw did not seem 
to be tremendous, but the claws of the brute had penetrated 
so deeply into the chest and shoulder of the youth that he 
survived scarcely a quarter of an hour after being carried into 
the village. Early next morning I was aroused by a great 
commotion, a loud screaming and scampering of feet, amid 
which I heard the word "Matjan" (tiger). Jumping up, I 
slid a cartridge into my Martini- Henry, and rushed out, to 
find every man brandishing a long spear in the one hand and 
a kriss in the other, all looking very scared. The tiger of the 
previous day had come after his unburied quarry, as they 
firmly believed and asserted against my doubts that he would, 
and had actually ventured into the middle of the village, and 
within thirty feet of my door which stood next to the house 
containing the dead body. The clamour had frightened it 
off into the impenetrable jungle which closely hedged round 
the village, whither I could follow it only a very short way. 

As we re-entered the village the body of the youth was 
being brought out for burial amid terrible wailings of the 
women. It was sewed into a thick grass mat, on the top of 
which were spread flowers of the cocoa and pinang palms, and 
over which, as it was borne away, handfuls of yellowed rice were 
thrown. The villagers fell in behind the body, each man 
with a spear over his shoulder, their tips glittering in the 
sun like a regiment of bayonets, for fear of another sudden 




JIT COLLECTOR KTLLED BY A TIGER. 



IN SUMATRA. 223 



attack. The grave was made deeper than usual, and well 
protected on the top, as they affirmed that the ti«-er would 
certainly try to scrape up the body. The lamentations of the 
women, which were terrible to hear as the body was taken 
away, continued till the return of the people from the funeral, 
and then entirely ceased. It is difficult to learn whether 
these were really bitter mournings, or merely the following of 
their custom. The event, however, cast a visible gloom over 
the village, and I felt relieved when it returned to its more 
ordinary ways. For several nights after the funeral the father 
of the youth, sitting by himself alone in his house, chanted 
from sundown till daybreak what they call the Tjerita hari, 
or death dirge, a most plaintive lament ; and to me it seemed 
the most saddening, woe-laden wail I had ever heard, risino- 
and falling on the silent night like a wintry wind. 

As expected, the tiger attempted to scrape up the body the 
night after its burial. Next night and for several others I 
watched the grave, but the tiger did not keep tryst with me ; 
but when I was not there it never failed to come. I therefore 
assisted them to construct a snare to catch it on its first return. 
A fence was made at all such places as there was a possibility 
of approach to the grave, leaving on the cleared road a very 
conspicuous open gate, across which a thin cord was loosely 
drawn, connected with a green bamboo some thirty feet long 
bent by the strength of several men into a bow, at whose 
extremity a sharp spear was so arranged as to be shot athwart 
the entrance-gate, on the release of the bamboo by the tiger 
pressing with his breast on the twig-like cord in his way. 
Every night the trap was re-set for six days, without the tiger's 
appearance. The seventh it was left unset as apparently use- 
less ; next morning it was found that the tiger had been within 
the enclosure, and I saw it faithfully set in the evening. The 
following morning I was awakened by a great chattering out- 
side the Balai, and, starting up to learn the cause of the uproar, 
I was informed that the trap had shot in the night, and tin- 
spear had been broken off, but the tiger had not been found. 
I was soon among the eager crowd, who had armed to beat the 
woods. It was evident from the blood on the spear-shaft that it 
was sorely wounded, and could not be far off. We had little 
need, however, of gun or spear, for some thirty yards i the 



224 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



forest we found the warm body of the feline. Transfixed from 
side to side, it had cleared the high fence with one gigantic 
bound, and fallen dead where it lay. As soon as it was known 
that the body had been found, every man, woman and child 
hastened out of the village to see the carcase of their enemy, 
every individual, save the youngest children, bringing with 
him a knife or kriss. It was only with the very utmost 
difficulty that I could, by standing on the body and uttering 
the direst threats, prevent each of these blades from being 
thrust into the skin, which I wished to preserve. With what 
savage delight and revenge they did gloat over that carcase, 
and run their weapons into its body when they could ! What 
blood there was about was all used up in dipping them in to 
insure bravery ; and all passed their krisses broadside over and 
over the body to absorb the potent emanation from this personi- 
fication, of power and boldness. When the body was being 
skinned the relatives of many of those who had perished by 
tigers came and begged for a piece of the heart or brain, that 
they might revenge themselves by eating it— especially one 
old woman who had thus lost first her only son, and later had 
had her husband carried off before her eyes. 

The graveyard of the village was laid out along the river, 
on each side of a moss-grown path, overshadowed by tall and 
aged trees. All about grew delicate ferns and shrubs sacred 
to the dead. Almost at the end of this tall avenue I came 
one day on a house of some dimensions, with a closed door, 
having a space in front cleared of vegetation, and kept neatly 
in order. By peering though an aperture I could see inside, 
surrounded by a close pavement of stones, a solitary grave- 
stone. This was the resting-place of the Nene Poyang, or 
Forefather, who had established the village. When any great 
trouble overtakes the village, such as many deaths from tigers, 
or times of scarcity befall them, they assemble here, and killing 
a goat or a buffalo, they invoke the good offices of the spirit of 
their ancestor. If a man have a dispute with another and the 
matter be referred to his oath, it is over the stone of their 
ancestor here that he swears. 







MY HUT AT THE HOT-SPRINGS, FOOT OF THE KABA VOLCANO. 



IN SUMATRA. 225 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SOJOURN IN THE PALEMBANG RESIDENCY— CO nthiued. 

Leave Tandjong-Nins — Padan* Ulak-Tandjong — Kepala Tjurup — Hot 
springs of the Kaba— Earthquake — Botanical features— Curious plants — 
Fertilisation of Melastoma— A pilgrimage— The crater of the Kaba — The 
Nomadic Kubus — Rupit river scenery — Gold gatherers — Muara-rupit 
— The Durian — Surnlangun — Thieves and thieves' calendars — Malay 
dignity — Leave for Muara Mengkulem. 

Leaving the village of Tandjong-Ning, I proceeded across a 
gradually-rising country, at that period very poverty-stricken, 
in which there was little new or interesting to detain me. 
Two days brought me to Padang Ulak-Tandjong, on the river 
Klingi, the seat ot the magistrate of the district, where I was 
detained for several days owing to the difficulty of obtaining 
transport. All the able-bodied men had left the district in 
search of food in far-off parts, as there had been no rice in their 
own, from the failure of the crops for several years. Kepala- 
Tjurup, the nearest village to the Kaba, was ten miles farther 
on, and eight from the base of the mountain. There I left the 
heavy baggage, and by a rough and difficult ravine-intersected 
path through the forest, along which I noticed not a few plants 
new to me, I proceeded to the hot springs at tne base of the 
Kaba, where I built a hut amid the steam which continually 
rolled up from the water that bubbles out in the face of a steep 
ravine at a temperature of 170° F. 

I had not taken up my quarters many hours before I was 
made sensibly aware that I was in a volcanic region by a 
severe and long-continued shock of earthquake. Later on, on 
the evening of the 16th of September, I again experienced two 
very strong vertical bumps, which tossed me clean upwards 
from my chair, dislodged a large pet Hornbill from its perch, 
and shook a heavy shower of drops from the trees. The Argus 



226 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

pheasants screamed, and the howl of the Siamang broke the 
stillness of the evening. The sensation was as if an inter- 
mittent upheaval, such as I witnessed in the crater of the 
Dempo, had taken place under my feet. 

The stream close at hand swarmed with excellent fish, of 
which some were caught every day for my table ; the woods 
were full of deer, which frequented the hot springs to drink, 
of herds of tapir and of elegant little Tragulidse. Numerous 
Buceros birds advertised their presence by their cries ; in the 
darker shades were pittas (P. venusta) pheasants and species of 
partridge (Caloperdix oculea); while Babbling-thrushes (Bhino- 
cichla mitrata and Sibia simillima), and many kinds besides, 
added their chorus to the woods. 

The botanical features of the district were not without 
interest, though not so rich as some of the localities I had 
already visited. At my door, growing in a thicket, was one of 
those shrubs (Sambucus javanica), which like the Ponicettia, 
produce in the close vicinity of their florets, curious and 
little cups full of rich, yellow honey whose function is still a 
disputed question. The species of Sambucus in Europe, as 
is well known, have thread-like stipules with glandular tips, 
which in S. racemosa, M. Bonnier * has observed, produce 
liquid sugar abundantly. H. Mullert has recorded that a 
species of Sambucus (S. nigra ?) is not visited by bees, but by 
flies, on account of its odour ; but M. Bonnier says, " S. racemosa 
is visited by bees. The distribution of the nectaries . . . 
(according to the German physiological botanist Sachs) is 
always in immediate relation to the specific combinations that 
the flower has developed (realise) for the purpose of fertilisa- 
tion by insects. They visit the flowers to imbibe the nectar, 
by which they are nourished, and which is distilled exclusively 
for this purpose." M. Bonnier holds t that " the greater part 
of the accumulated sugar returns to the plant when the nectar 
loses the sugar it contained [which supervenes when the fruit 
begins to grow]. ... In regard to the floral nectaries, when 
the sugar disappears from the nectariferous tissue, they go to 

* Bonnier, " Les Nectaires," Annates des Sciences NaturelJes Botanique, viii. 
1879, pp. 1-212. For a refertnce to this interesting paper I am much 
indebted to Lord Justice Fry. 

t ' Die Befruchting der Blumen durch Insekten,' Leipzig, 1873, p. 433. 

% Loc. tit. p. 1U9. 



IN SUM A Til A. 227 



contribute to the nourishment of the young fruit and young 
ovules ; and, in regard to the extrafioral nectaries, they go to 
the development of the neighbouring organ." The chief 
visitors and fertilisers of the S. javanica were white butterflies 
(Pieridze) ; but I was unable to detect them sipping from the 
honey-cups ; while species of wasps (Eumenes) that frequented 
them occasionally came cautiously frqin below to sip the nectar, 
but disregarded the flowers. These little cups were not confined 
to the neighbourhood of the flowers, but were arranged abun- 
dantly on the leaves and on the stems of the plant as well. 

Here I was gratified to find abundance of the great Arums, 
Amorphophallus titanum, of which I have already spoken ; * 
with tubers of a greater size than any I had seen before, some 
of them, indeed, being the largest yet recorded. The greatest 
— measuring in circumference six feet six inches, and its stem 
at the base two feet seven inches — formed, on its removal 
from the ground, a load for twelve men. 

A striking feature also of the forest here was the enormous 
results of the activity of earth-worms. The whole surface of 
the ground was as rough and hummocky as a newly-ploughed 
field. A tube four and a half inches in circumference and 
eight inches high was often raised in a single night, and as, in 
some places, there were as many as ten to twelve of these in 
a square yard, it becomes evident what powerful agents they 
are in the fertilisation of the soil, incessant as they seem 
to be in their work of carrying up the soil from below and 
laying it down on the surface, burying the rotting debris of the 
forest. Insects were by no means common. Few bees, fewer 
beetles, and hardly one of the finer forms of butterflies were 
found except the magnificent Ornithoptera brooheana, whose 
favourite resort was the stones that cropped out above the 
hot water, and which were of a temperature but little below 
130° F. This butterfly has a bar of the richest lake dividing 
the head from the thorax ; its blue-black wings are banded 
on the upper side with the most sparkling metallic emerald, 
and the under sides slashed with metallic green and blue, 
which glittered and flashed in the sunshine, in whose brightest 
hours alone they made their appearance. 

On the first favourable day, accompanied by one of the 
* Supra, p. 175. 



228 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



chiefs of the district, I started for the crater of the mountain. 
The path lay through a very gently rising stretch of forest, 
abounding in TJrostigma trees, alternating with bamboo clumps, 
but with almost no undergrowth, except low grass and a few 
herbs. Where the mountain began to ascend more steeply, 
we entered a dense thicket of tall reedy grass and fern tangle, 
through which there would have been no possibility of pro- 
gressing had I not sent men on several days before to make 
a path. So tall was the grass that merely a tunnel could 
be excavated in it, through which we half walked half crept, 
and along which the baggage was dragged only with the 
utmost difficulty. Above this we encountered many Tern- 
stroemacese, with large white and rose-coloured corollas, scented 
laurel (Tetranthera citrata) whose sweet perfume filled the 
air, and small trees called by the natives Balik-sumpa, from 
whose fruits necklets are made for children to wear as charms. 
When a youth and a maiden have plighted their troth by an 
oath, or indeed made any oath before their marriage, they 
make for their first child a necklet of the fruit of this 
tree, in order that no harm may overtake it on account 
of their oath ; the name implies " Averter of the oath." 
Above this the mountain presented a singular appearance. 
With the exception of a species of Pandan, there were no more 
trees to be seen, only low shrubs of a pretty species of honey- 
suckle, which gave the mountain the appearance of being 
heather-clad, thickly interspersed with a taller species of pink 
Melastoma with a profusion of immense flowers nearly three 
inches in width, giving the landscape the appearance of being 
set with wild rose-trees. These fine shrubs accompanied us 
quite to the summit. Just about their commencement the 
leeches which had attacked our limbs without mercy ceased to 
be found ; on the Dempo they drew the line at 7500 feet. 

A large humble-bee (Bombus senex) was busy visiting these 
Melastorna-flowers, and I watched its operations with the 
greatest interest. Each flower has two forms of stamens, 
short and long, differing in colour and shape. The short 
stamens have yellow anthers, a, which stand out from the middle 
of the flower, and are very conspicuous ; the longer stamens 
have anthers, a 2 , approaching in colour to that of the petals form- 
ing their background, and are therefore less conspicious, and 



IN SUMATRA. 229 




they have a singular knee extended into a fork-like projection,/, 
which in the flower lies just below the bright yellow anthers 
of the short stamens. The lower portion of the long stamens 
takes a backward curve from the 
fork carrying the pores of its 
anthers far from those of the 
short stamens. This arrange- 
ment is most beautifully adapted, 
as was first pointed out by Fritz } 

Miiller, for the cross-fertilisation flower (diagrammatic) of melastom a. 
of thp nl-int IN SECTION -— P> petal; «', anther 

U1 lllV l JltluL - OF SHORT STAMENS; /, FORK OF 1 OXG 

The bees invariably made stamens ; a-, anther of long sta- 

/. ,i 1 • 1 i. 11 1 .(• JoENS; C, FILAMENT OF LONG ANTHEB; 

tor the bright yellow platform , t , stigma op pistil ; *, ovaht. 
offered by the bunch of short 

stamens (perhaps because they do not perceive from a distance 
the pink pistil and long stamens projected against the 
pink corolla), and invariably received the pistil between their 
legs, their feet settling also on the adjoining fork of the long 
stamens. The instant effect of this is to collect the whole 
of the long stamens into a bunch, and to depress their anthers 
downwards and away from the body of the bee, while the 
stigma of the pistil (which hangs down close to the pores 
of the long-stamened anthers) remains in constant contact 
with its ventral side. At the moment of the bee's depar- 
ture, the hooks on its feet, by pulling on the fork of the long 
stamens, raise their anthers, bringing — now that there is no 
fear of producing self- fertilisation of the plant — their tips in 
a collected bunch into contact with its sides and abdomen. 
Long after I had made these observations, while working in the 
laboratory of the Buitenzorg Gardens, Dr. Burck pointed out to 
me a fact of considerable importance which I was able to verify 
for myself, that there was in very closely allied species of this 
family a great difference in the shape of the pollen of the two 
forms of anther ; that while pollen of both shapes was found on 
the pistil, that from the long stamens alone seemed fertile. We 
could not detect any pollen tubes (which are emitted when the 
pollen is fecundating the plant) emanating from the pollen of 
the short-stamened anthers. 

The reason why some organ of a plant or animal has assumed, 
as it were, an abnormal form, is not always easy to discover ; 



230 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



but we may feel sure that a change of form indicates a corre- 
sponding change of function; and in discovering its true 
raison d'etre, the object of our contemplation is invested 
with a halo of interest which it could not otherwise have 
possessed. 

The yellow, short-stamened anthers have evidently left their 
ordinary function of fecundation to become an enticing food-bait 
to attract insects to the flower, while the long stamens have 
varied in form to secure to the utmost their ordinary function 
by insuring that their pollen shall fecundate not their own 
but their neighbour's stigma. This result, however, would be 
impossible but for the singularly methodical habits which 
bees have of visiting in a long sequence the same species of 
flowers.* 

How fitly jointed together all nature hangs ! 

After I had progressed some distance on the morning on our 
way up, I became aware of two men following us who were not 
of our party. On inquiry I found that they were Am pat Lawang 
men going to the mountain to invoke the Dewa. One carried a 
white pigeon in a cage, and both were dressed with care in their 
best garments. On arrival at my hut, they adjourned along 
with my guide to the summit overlooking it. Here they 
burned benzoin incense to the Dewa, whom they should have 
invoked by a prayer, but as none of- them could "menhadji" 
this part of the ceremony had perforce to be dispensed with. 
Thereafter they made their way to the Kaba peak, which rose 
on our opposite side perpendicularly out of the crater. There 
the two were to spend the night in the open air, and let 
loose their pigeon as an offering to the Dewa. I knew that 
they must have come on some special mission, and suspected 
that the younger man had perhaps set his heart on a fair 
maiden, and desired to impress the deity into his suit ; or 
that they had come to solicit a good rice crop in what was then 
an almost famine time ; or that sickness or some grave trouble 
oppressed them ; but on inquiring of my guide the specific 
reason, I found that they were earnestly desirous that the 
Dewa might incline the heart of the magistrate of their district 
to grant them leave to hold — a cock-fio-htins: tournament ! 

The hut of pandan mats which I had sent men to erect close 
* Cf. Nature, vol. xxiv. p. 307 ; xxvi. p. 386 ; xxvii. p. 30. 



IN SUMATRA. 231 



to the summit I found placed but a few yards from the crater 
edge. On reaching the brink the first look quite startled me. I 
stood on the edge of a sheer precipice 600 or 700 feet in depth, 
looking down into a gigantic unevenly-floored pit bounded 
by perpendicular walls which till a short time previously 
had been a lake. The floor was of a deep blue-black colour, 
giving vent at various points to jets of steam. From this 
standpoint it seemed that there was no possible way of reaching 
the crater floor than by leaping over the precipice ; but, on 
proceeding along its rim, I found a spot where the cliffs became 
considerably lower. This less elevated wall turned out to be 
only a dividing dyke separating the western from another 
much greater and more irregular eastern crater, into which I 
would not venture to descend, as, on probing its floor, it 
treacherously gave way under the weight of our feet. In the 
ugly rents and chasms athwart it, and in the great unsightly 
blocks of stone furiously piled up against each other in all 
directions, giving issue between them to steam and foetid 
vapours, it was not inviting. To reach the western floor we 
descended a declivity of some 70°, scrambling sometimes on 
hands and feet sometimes sliding on our heels, not without an 
eerie feeling, for, though all looked still and quiet, there was 
a continuous and awesome sound, waxing and waning like an 
angry sea breaking on a shingly shore. The whole surface 
was covered with a layer of black sand and irregular fragments 
of stone, many of them of great size and weight, chipped and 
indented by the impact of others falling on them. The lake, 
which a few years before filled it, had disappeared. The soil 
was quite porous, and on the surface unpleasantly hot to 
the hand, but further down candescent enough to scorch my 
walking-stick thrust into it ; from the whole surface vapours 
gently emanated, leaving variously coloured deposits. At one 
spot several great cauldrons were in fierce ebullition, emitting 
steam, with a roar like some cyclopean engine blowing off power 
which the walls resolved into the sound of a surf-beaten shore ; 
and besides, vapour, sand, water, and white and rich chrome 
coloured muds, tinged with alum and sulphur. 

Three years had elapsed since its previous eruption had ceased 
and six since it had commenced. Before that time it had been 
quiescent since about 1833. The whole country for twent miles 



232 A NATURALIST'S WANDEBINGS 



round had been covered with volcanic dust, and even at the 
time of my visit the soil of the banks of the Klingi at fifteen 
miles off was so charged with noxious substances that, when 
portions fell in during heavy rains, numbers of fish died 
from its effect on the water. The mountain itself was every- 
where covered with a sheet of black sand ; and above the belt 
of grass and ferns I have mentioned, no trees had survived 

everywhere their dead trunks stood erect, or lay prostrate 

on the bleak blasted ground. On such a gigantic scale and 
so proportionate is the whole scene that one fails to realise the 
vast dimensions of the caverns ; and it is only when the eye — 
viewing from the summit and comparing with the littleness 
of a human figure the blocks of stone and the huge ejected 
rocks, which seem but the small atoms of which the scene is 
composed — pauses to estimate its vast walls and its enormous 
stretch from rim to rim, that some comprehension is attained 
of the immensity of the powers that have been at work and 
the effects they have produced. 

In many places, extending over a wide area in an easterly 
direction, steam could be seen issuing from the ground ; and at 
one spot on the crest of the Biring peak vapours were issuing 
from rents which must have been but a few weeks old, as the 
grass in their neighbourhood had not entirely disappeared, 
though it was brown and yellow. In many places, too, could 
be seen large dismal areas and mounds of black sand, ejected 
in recent eruptions or upbursts. 

The most prominent feature of the landscape on the upper 
portion of the mountain was certainly the Pandans, which, 
though but sparsely dotted about, reared their lean ungainly 
stems and sparse tufted foliage prominently above the shrubs 
and other bushes, and, combined in the view with numerous 
spots blasted by volcanic action, gave a dreariness and a 
feeling of desolation to the scenery of the Kaba which the 
great beauty of the Melastoma, which will always remain 
associated with it in my recollection, could not redeem. 

From the Kaba I directed my course towards the upper 
reaches of the Musi river ; but the obtaining of transport was 
very difficult, as there was almost nobody but women left in 
the district, all the men having gone away to labour in Palem- 
bang and other centres to earn rice, which had so failed in 



IN SUM ATX A. 233 



their own district. The poor people had sold all their saleable 
goods, and were then many of them living in the deep forest, 
feeding on fruits and green herbs, and making sago from 
the Areng palm ; or in search of rattan and balam (their name 
for the various species of gum-elastic and gutta-percha), to 
exchange for rice in Palembang, whence all their supplies had 
to be brought — a twenty to thirty or more days' laborious 
pole up the river. They were besides ail so very weak from 
spare diet that we had to arrange the baggage in small bundles 
and employ a larger number. Our road lay at first south-east 
along the Klingi, and then northward across the tributaries 
of the Lakitan, to the village of Suka-Radja, on the Eupit 
river, where I spent a few profitable weeks. 

Here I obtained an interesting bird, a green species of Spider- 
eater — an elegant genus with long curved bill — flitting about 
near the ground on the rocky pavement. On dissection I 
found its stomach to contain, besides insects and the seeds of 
Scitaminese, a waxy substance. The natives say that it feeds on 
the flowers of the Scitamineas that bloom on the surface of the 
ground. These are most of them of very bright colours, and 
grow in deep shade where few insects are to be found, and it is 
very probable that the grateful office of cross-fertilisation is per- 
formed for them by the Spider-eater and other birds. The most 
remarkable feature of the forests here was an immensely tall 
thick tree called by the natives Sekawang (? Bassia, sp.), whose 
scarlet flowers keep falling, during the two or three weeks of 
its blossoming time, in one incessant rain, covering the ground 
with a deep scarlet carpet, so deep that hundreds of bushels 
might be gathered, from which a peculiar and very oppressive 
but not disagreeable odour emanates. 

Here I made my first acquaintance with the Kubus, a race 
of whom I had heard much in the southern parts of my 
journey as a wild tribe living houseless in the forests, covered 
with hair, and altogether so peculiar a people as to be famous 
far from their own regions. As I approached nearer to their 
haunts the exaggerated tales about them became reduced 
nearer to the bounds of truth; but still then little reliable 
information could be obtained; so that it was with extivm.' 
satisfaction that I learned one day that in their wandering 3, a 
small company of them had come into the neighbor tood. 



234 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



to whom I sent the head of the village to call them to speak 
with me. 

The Kubus are a small tribe of people inhabiting the central 
parts of Sumatra, and it has been claimed by some for them 
that thev are the remnants of the pristine indigenes of the 
country. 

My first introduction was to two men, one woman, and one 
child ; shortly afterwards, however, at Surulangun,* through 
the kind assistance of Mr. Kamp, the Controller of the district, 





A KTJBU MAN AND "WOMAN, SKETCHED IN THE VILLAGE OF KOTTA-RADJA. 

I was able to examine a considerable number of these people, to 
collect some information about them, and to obtain one cranium 
and, after considerable difficulty, one complete skeleton. 

The Kubus are a nomadic race wandering about in the 
forests on the borders of the Jambi Sultanate and of the Palem- 
bang Eesiclency, along the banks and affluents of the great 
rivers, the Musi and the Batang Hari. The Dutch Govern- 
ment some years ago began the attempt to teach these people 
the rudiments of the art of agriculture, and have after much 



See below, page 240. 



IN SUMATRA. 235 



difficulty succeeded in getting a few families in several 
districts to assume in some degree a settled residence in 
villages made for themselves. It was owing to these partially 
civilised communities that I am indebted for a sight of the 
people I met at Surulangun. 

In their wild state they live in the deep forest, making 
temporary dwellings, if their rude shelters can be called such, in 
which they stay for a few days at a time, where food is obtain- 
able, or for the purpose of collecting beeswax, dammar, and 
gutta-percha. Their dwellings are a few simple branches 
erected over a low platform to keep them from the ground, and 
thatched with banana- or palm-leaves. They are so timorous 
and shy that it is a rare circumstance for any one to see them, 
and of course an extremely rare one for any white man. In 
fact, I doubt if any white man has ever seen the uninfluenced 
Kubu, save as one sees the hind-quarters of a startled deer. In 
the small trade carried on between them and the Malay traders 
of the Palembang and Jambi Residencies, the transactions are 
performed without the one party seeing the other. The Malay 
trader, ascending to one of their places of rendezvous, beats a 
gong in a particular way to give notice of his arrival. On 
hearing the signal, the Kubus, bringing out what forest produce 
they may have collected, and depositing it on the ground at 
this place, hastily retire into close hiding, beating a gong as a 
signal that all is ready. The trader then slowly and cautiously 
approaches, lays down on the ground the cloth, knives, and 
other articles of barter he has brought, to the amount which 
he considers an equivalent exchange, beats a gong and in like 
manner disappears. The Kubus proceed then to examine the 
barter offered ; if they think the bargain satisfactory they 
remove the goods, beat their gong and go away ; while the 
trader packs up the produce he finds left lying on the ground. 
If the bargain is not considered by them sufficiently advan- 
tageous, they set on one side a portion of their produce, to 
reduce it to what they consider the value of the barter offered ; 
and thus the affair see-saws till finally adjusted or abandoned. 
They are so afraid of seeing any one not of their own race that, 
if suddenly met or come up with in the forest, they will drop 
everything and flee away. They cultivate nothing for them- 
selves, but live entirely on the products of the forest—quakes, 



236 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



lizards, grubs, fruits, an occasional deer, pig, or tapir, which 
a happy effort has rewarded them with— and what they pur- 
chase by barter from Malays. They know nothing of art ; they 
manufacture absolutely nothing. Their knives and the univer- 
sal spear with which they are armed are purchased from the 
Malays with whom they trade. Neither men nor women wear 
clothes, except the small T-bandage of bark-cloth ; some even 
go entirely in a state of nature. Where European influence is 
beginning to have its modifying effect — and where is it not 
now felt in some measure ? — calico coverings such as modesty 
demands are worn. They keep in confinement a few birds 
occasionally, and a species of dog of moderate size generally 
accompanies them. They will scarcely touch water for ablu- 
tionary purposes, and have consequently a strong, unpleasant 
odour ; and a small stream which they cannot cross by prau 
or by stepping-stones is often a barrier to their journey. 

On approaching the steps of the hut in which I was living, 
my first acquaintances made a bashful salutation with the hand 
in the awkward way of children, advancing with open eyes full 
of wonder and curiosity more marked in the woman's face than 
in her companion's, she being evidently less accustomed to see 
other than her own people. They rarely come into the villages, 
the villagers always seeking them out in order to buy from 
them their forest-gathered produce. The chief who went to 
induce them to visit me had to assure them that I did not 
wish to make them take up their residence in a village, or to 
compel them to cultivate rice fields. 

The colour of their skin was a rich olive brown ; while their 
hair always in a dishevelled state, was jet black, inclined to 
curl. It was certainly less straight than that of the village 
Malays, but it may be that this curling is the result of want 
of attention, and of its becoming matted and twisted. The 
woman's hair was straighter than the men's. Her features were 
what I might call Mongolian, in contrast to her companion's, 
which I might designate as more conforming to the Malayan 
type about them. The child might have been a very dark- 
complexioned Italian or a dark Arabian. Her features are re- 
presented very truthfully on page 234. Both men had a slight 
moustache, and a few hairs on the chin. What struck me most 
in them was their extreme submissiveness, their want of inde- 



IN SUMATRA. 237 



pendence and will ; they seemed too meek ever to act on the 
offensive. One cannot help feeling that they are harmless 
overgrown children of the woods. Within the memory of the 
chief of the village in which I first met these Kubus, have they 
only come to possess a sense of shame ; formerly they knew 
none, and were the derision of the villagers into whose neigh- 
bourhood they might come. 

Rain having fallen very heavily in the north-west hills for 
some time, the path across country to the borders of Djambi 
was rendered so impassable, that it became necessary for me 
to descend the Rupit to its junction with the Rawas river 
at Muara Rupit, and then ascend the latter by a road fol- 
lowing the river for a great part of the way — a far longer 
journey. I had therefore a couple of substantial rafts made, 
in one of which I had fitted a covered seat, with a lono- raised 
platform behind it on which to prepare a herbarium, as the 
river traversed much virgin forest specimens of which my 
mode of travel would enable me to collect and arrange while 
sailing down. The river below the village was broad, and, 
except at a few places, of considerable depth. 

I started early on the 25th of October, just as the sun 
was tipping the trees, streaming through the morning mist 
changing it into a golden haze. High overhead the pale 
blue of the sky betokened a bright sunny day. The morning 
was delightfully fresh and invigorating ; even the phlegmatic 
Malay felt it so, for the men who piloted, my rafts pranced 
on their poles as they shoved along, and when they came to 
spots where more vigorous exertion had to be put forth, 
they shouted and hallooed in the exuberance of their spirits. 
Nothing could be more pleasant than our gentle gliding 
down, enjoying without fatigue the ever-varying pictures 
presented at each bend of the river — its abrupt corners, its 
deep rotating frothy pools ; now the shade of some stupendous 
tree, now the shooting an arch of some half-fallen giant 
busked with pendant ferns and orchidaceous Vandas. Very 
many trees were in flower and fruit — in fact till then for 
several years there had been little blossom — tall Melettias 
hung with immense pods, and wild Nutmeg trees with their 
pretty drop-like fruits. The oaks were one mass of white 
inflorescense, and formed a characteristic feature o: the 
17 



238 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



vegetation of the banks ; while bushy Sterculiaceous trees 
made a greater show of colour in the rich pink of their young 
foliage and in the bright scarlet of their fruits than in their 
inconspicuous flowers. Between these more outstanding trees, 
dark-foliaged figs and slender bamboos gracefully bending over 
the bank, filled up the ranks shoulder to shoulder. Tall Sialang 
trees, with lio-htning-conductor-like stairs up their white stems, 
by which the wild bees' nests are reached, and the Pangiums 
bearing 600 to 700 brown velvety fruits each several pounds 
in weight, so that one marvels that the branches are able to 
sustain the load — marked the vicinity of villages. Here and 
there a stately tree which had been left unmolested in their 
fields exhibited the grandeur of stem and crown that an 
Ancient of the forest can attain unto. Every lifeless stem, to 
the very tips of its withered arms was festooned with dark- 
foliaged climbers, yellow and purple Papilionacese and Con- 
volvulacese, like the grotesque shrubbery cut out of boxwood, 
but with all the natural grace which is conspicuously wanting 
in Dutch gardens. No tree, however, was more abundant or 
brighter than the Lagerstroemia, whose fine red tops could be 
seen a long way off. Every now and then a creaking sound 
came up the water catching the ear like the subdued screech 
of a buffalo cart, produced by the monotonous turning of a 
large bamboo waterwheel fixed where the banks of the river 
were high, to lift water into the adjacent rice-fields by bamboo 
buckets fixed at intervals in a lateral direction to their paddles. 
Water birds of many species, and kingfishers in cobalt plu- 
mage, were constantly darting about, roused from their hunting 
grounds by our passing, many of which were honoured with 
a place in my collection. In. addition to the ever-changing 
forms of the vegetation and the varied bird and insect life that 
flitted from side to side, there was no lack of human interest in 
the scenes. Now it was a skiff with flashing oars with a 
chattering load of women and girls with their baskets on their 
way to the fields ; now a village crowd in their many coloured 
sarongs, clustered on the rocks or under the shade of some 
broad fig to see our flotilla pass by; here it was a patient 
plyer of the gentle art by a rippling bend ; there a crowd of 
women in a shingly corner in their broad sun hats and blue 
gowns washing the sand for gold. 



IN SUMATRA. 239 



The recent rains had produced a flood — the greatest, it was 
said, for five years — which had risen from ten to twelve feet 
above its ordinary mark. Throughout a distance of from thirty 
to forty miles it had carried away pieces of the bank from three 
to five yards wide and from eight to ten feet deep. In these 
new sections large trees (stems and branches) had become ex- 
posed, buried more than six feet below the surface of the sur- 
rounding land. These sections showed the soil resting on a 
deep band of clay, which in turn was lying on a thick stratum 
of shingle, which was being again washed out, to be subjected 
to fresh attrition after having rested for many cycles. Below 
the confluence of the River Tiku, which rises among the Palae- 
ozoic rocks in the Redjang region a considerable quantity of 
gold is found when the river is very low, caught among the 
stones, larger pebbles and sand. This sand is collected — the 
occupation mostly of the older women — and, when freed from 
the larger particles, goes by the name of bungin ; the bungin 
is washed in a broad cone-shaped vessel of wood — the dulang 
— by a rotatory motion, till only an extremely fine heavy black 
sand (kalam) is left. The kalam, which contains the gold is 
then rotated in the dulang with a little water till the heavier 
metal falls to the apex of the cone, whence it is carefully 
removed. A very successful day's washing in this fashion will 
bring only Is. 8d. 

With a halt of one night at the village of Ambatjang, so 
called from an old large and symmetrical tree of that name 
(Mangifera foetida) growing in the village, then in magni- 
ficent blossom, I reached Muara-Rupit at the confluence of 
the Rawas river, on the afternoon of the second day. Muara- 
Rupit, to the Ulu men from among whom I had come, is a 
great place which perhaps some day fate may permit them to 
visit. To have been to Muara-Rupit from the Ulu country 
is to have gained a certain precedence amongst their fellow 
villagers, while to have been to Palembang, a to-and-fro jour- 
ney of six weeks, is to have seen the world ! This place is 
the seat of a great trade ; everything from the coast for the 
Rupit and the country watered by its tributaries, and for the 
Rawas and its tributaries up to the Djambi country, is brought 
to Muara-Rupit, whither can come a small steamer able to 
carry a company of troops. I was consequently not surprised 



240 A NATURALISTS WANDERINGS 



on finding a broad, deep river, with a fleet of Paleinbang praxis 
at anchor, and of rakits loaded, or lying to be filled up with 
o-utta-percha, rattan, and buffaloes for the Palembang market. 

From Muara-Eupit I proceeded to Surulangun, along a good 
road following the Rawas river, under a continuous shade of tall 
Durian trees from thirty-five to forty feet high — a growth of ten 
years. The road was carpeted throughout its length with their 
flowers, which were dropping off in vast numbers. In the flower- 
ing time it was a most pleasant shady road ; but later in the 
season the chance of a fruit now and then descending on one's 
head would be less agreeable.* At every village I passed, I was 
respectfully received by the chiefs ; and at several places they 
were accompanied by the youths and maidens, who were 
formed to right and left of the way attended by a band, while 
a table loaded with fruits, sweetmeats and coffee, barred the 
road, of which in order to gratify them I had to dismount and 
partake. This band played me to the boundaries of the 
next village, where another was waiting to convoy us through 
their region. 

At Surulangun, the residence of Mr. Kamp the genial Magis- 
trate of the district, enjoying his bountiful hospitality, and the 
companionship of the commandant of a small garrison quartered 
there for the protection of the district against the Djambi 
people, several most pleasant days were passed. These hostile 
neighbours make not infrequent raids on the villages to carry 
off their herds, covering their departure by maliciously plant- 
ing the roads with short sharp bamboo spikes, invisible till 
wounds are received. 

Here I had the satisfaction of again examining, through Mr. 
Kamp's kind aid, a considerable assemblage of Kubus of both 
sexes. Several of them it would have been impossible to tell 
from the people of the surrounding villages from their features ; 
on the other hand, there were peculiarities scarcely reducible 
to words, by which they could have been picked out among 
a crowd of Malays. I tried to formulate the differences, but 
found myself almost unable to say exactly wherein they con- 
sisted. The high (between the eyes) straight dorsum of the 

Of this fruit (he natives are passionately fond ; and Mr. Wallace writes 
it is worth a voyage to the East to taste ; and the elephants flock to its shade 
in the fruiting lime; but, more singular still, the tiger is said to devour it 
with nviditv. 



IN SUMATRA. 241 



nose in a few was remarkable; and the sharply prominent 
cheek-bones. The villagers asserted that they could tell a 
footprint in the mud of a Kubu from that of their own people. 
I caused several of them to walk over sheets of paper 
after rubbing the soles of their feet with soot, but I could 
not discover, either in the shape of the foot or in its print, 
any divergence from that of the people about them. The 
lips of the Kubus were thin, and the eyes restless and glancing, 
as if ever on the alert. The average height of seven males was 
1*59 metres, and of five females 1-49 metres, which is about 
the average stature of the Malays of Malacca. On comparing 
the impress of their hands with those of the people of the dis- 
trict, those of the Kubus I found to be smaller. They are, I 
also observed, rather subject to reduplication of the fingers. 

They are said to have a language of their own unintelligible 
to their neighbours, but I failed to induce them to give me 
any specimen of it, if it existed. I could not understand their 
speech at first ; but after some conversation I could detect 
that they really spoke a corrupted Malay with a peculiar 
accentuation. 

Monogamy is the rule among them ; but a few have two or 
more wives. Their nuptial ceremony is a very simple affair. 
The man having fixed his choice on a girl, and obtained 
the consent of her parents to his suit, brings to her father such 
gifts as he has — a knife, a spear, cloths, or money (if he has 
any), dammar, and beeswax — and such rare fruits of the forest 
or favourite food-animals as may reward his search. When 
this gift is satisfactorily large, those who may be within reach 
are called together. Seating themselves below a tree, the 
father of the maiden informs them that he has given his 
daughter So-and-so to So-and-so in marriage. One of the 
company then strikes the tree under which they sit several 
times with a club, proclaiming them to be man and wife. The 
ceremony is followed by such feast as can be provided, princi- 
pally out of the fruits and animals the bridegroom has paid 
for his wife with. 

It is a rare thing for a Malay man to marry a Kubu woman ; 
but it occasionally happens, notwithstanding that they consider 
the Kubus far their inferiors, a position which the latter stem 
to accept with very marked submissiveness. "You Kill 



242 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



is a term of opprobrium which I have often heard applied by- 
one native to another with whom he had quarrelled. The 
village people consider them little other than beasts. In no 
case will a Malay touch or interfere with a dead body of one 
of his people ; yet I was able to obtain their assistance in dis- 
interring the body of the Kubu from which I made the skeleton 
that I obtained. The Kubus possess no personal property of 
any kind beyond what they can carry about with them. Their 
food, which consists for the most part of wild fruits or small 
animals, which they prefer, I am told, in a semi-putrid condition, 
they eat as they come by it, with little or no cooking. When 
traversing the forest, if one of them, on finding a bee-infested 
or a dammar-yielding tree, clear the brush around it, make one 
or two hacks in the bark, and repeat a form of spell, it is 
recognised by the others as his possession, which will be un- 
disputed. This is the only property, if such it may be called, 
that they possess. 

They are extremely fond of tobacco. Before one of them, 
who had seated himself on the edge of the verandah, I pro- 
duced some of the coveted weed. It was a study to see how 
his face gleamed over, and his eyes followed the parcel with 
the eagerness of a dog's after a bone with which he is tempted. 
To try him, a handful of very poor quality was offered him, 
which he snatched at, but, after smelling and tasting it, he 
rejected it with a sneer just as a monkey might have done, 
fixing his eyes eagerly once more on the bundle first produced. 
Some of this was handed to him, the whole of which, after 
smelling, he rolled into a thick cigarette in a leaf, and smoked 
with prodigious mouthfuls in perfect and delighted silence. 
When he saw or was offered anything which he liked par- 
ticularly, his eyes sparkled, and he expressed his eagerness 
by the continued repetition of a peculiar sound, " S-s-ho-o ! 
S-s-ho-o ! " Some fruit and a large plateful of rice, offered 
to him, were devoured more in the ravenous manner of a beast 
than of a man. When he had finished it he rubbed his stomach, 
to judge by its rotundity if he had had sufficient. 

Their intelligence is not, however, to be called of a low order. 
They evince considerable dexterity in the use of their spears, 
and are wonderfully accurate marksmen with stones. They 
post themselves behind some tree, in front of which is another 



IN SUMATRA. 243 



wherein birds are lodged, and thence discharge the stone over 
the one that hides them, so as to drop on the bird in the other. 
When sick they use various leaves from, which they make 
decoctions ; but their curative pharmacopoeia is very limited. 
I could not discover that they knew many poisons, but they 
were best acquainted with such plants as possessed aphrodisiac 
qualities, or were able to cause abortion. 

In their truly wild state they leave their dead unburied in 
the spot where they died, giving the place ever after a wide 
berth; but where the influence of the village customs has 
begun to affect them, the body is now generally buried face 
downward, with a strip of bark below and above the body. 
They seem to have no idea of a state after death : " When we 
are dead, we are dead." 

They have a tradition that they are the descendants of the 
younger of three brothers : the two elder were circumcised in 
the usual way : the younger it was found no instruments would 
circumcise, a circumstance which so ashamed him that he 
betook himself to the woods to live, and " We are his descend- 
ants," they told me. 

Leading so nomadic a life, the jurisdiction that can be 
exercised by any one over them can be but very slight. Such 
as it is, it is wielded by the elders of the party, who settle 
disputes that arise between man and man, and impose punish- 
ments for offences. 

It will be seen that the Kubus differ much in their habits 
and ways of life from those about them ; but whether they are 
the last survivors of their race, or are only a straggling rem- 
nant, kin to those about them, who at some past time were 
driven from below the family rooftree to save their lives in the 
forest fastness, and who, even when persecution has ceased, yet 
cling to the shade of those pillars which in their need afforded 
them the kindly refuge they sought, are questions on which 
the osteological evidence must be appealed to. Dr. G arson 
finds that the antero-posterior length in comparison to the 
transverse breadth of the brim in my Kubu woman's pelvis is ex- 
treme ; " indeed I have never," he remarks, " seen or measured 
a pelvis of so exaggerated a type, approaching in form nearly 
to that of the anthropomorphous apes; the great antero- 
posterior length of this specimen is due chiefly to the s1 light- 



244 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



ness of the sacrum. The index also obtained by comparison 
of the upper and lower limbs with each other is 70 (the latter 
being taken as 100). This high index shows an approximation 
in the proportions of the limbs of the Kubus to those of the 
anthropoid apes, and indicates that the length of the upper 
limb is considerably greater in proportion than that of the 
lower as compared to what obtains in Europeans. In the 
Negro and the Andarnanese, on the other hand, the upper 
limb is proportionately to the lower shorter than in Europeans. 
" Unfortunately the number of Kubu skulls obtained is not 








A KIJBU MAN, AND "WOMAN, SKETCHED IN THE VILLAGE OP SLKULANGUN. 

sufficiently large to justify very definite statements regarding 
them, though I think sufficient to answer one question which 
presents itself to us for solution, namely, as to what race the 
Kubus are allied — whether they possess Negrito or Malayan 
affinities. The character of the hair, the form of the nose, the 
various characters of the skull, and the proportion of the limb- 
bones show that they cannot have any near affinity to the 
Negrito race found in various parts of the Indo-Malayan 
Archipelago, but that they are decidedly Malays, and therefore 
Mongoloid. The high nasi-malar angle, the high and broad 



IN SUMATRA. 245 



face, the flat forehead, owing to absence of all glabellar and 
superciliary ridges, the slight sub-glabellar nasal depressions, 
and the nomadic life they lead, are all highly characteristic of 
the Mongolian race. 

" The frizzle in the hair seen in the drawings on pages 234 
and 244 is probably to be accounted for by their having at 
some remote period intermingled slightly with the Negrito 
people, possibly during their migration southward. There is, 
however, evidence that they have for a long period been iso- 
lated from the other surrounding inhabitants of the island, 
and that by absence of infusion of fresh blood they have come 
to resemble one another so closely that they now possess 
certain definite characteristics of a more or less stable nature." 

From the prison the Magistrate brought a thief who was 
waiting to be sentenced, on whom on his apprehension there 
had been found a bag with the chief paraphernalia of his trade, 
in order that he might explain to me their use. In it was a 
bunch of keys of various sizes, a little sack with rice-grains for 
alluring fowls ; a package of arsenic for more subtle bipeds ; a 
tube of soporific powder, whose recipe he was confiding enough 
to give me : Take of the Gadimg (a species of Arum whose un- 
cooked roots induce a sort of intoxication) a few scrapings of 
the skin where the stem joins the tuber ; of white Katjubung 
(Datura) the seeds of seven fruits ; the excreta of seven mice ; 
of arsenic a sufficient quantity. When dried, pounded, and 
sifted through a cloth, to be thrown on the rice, or into the 
cigarette of the victim, or to be blown towards him as occasion 
offers. The thief admitted that he had tried its effects and 
produced sleep on two men, and stolen from them many cloths 
and gold dust to the value of several hundred rupees. In 
addition to the somniferous compound there were two other 
tubes of "medicine," one for curing pain in the stomach, the 
other a bright scarlet substance like vermilion which was a 
deadly poison, he said, producing vomiting of blood, followed 
by a terrible and incurable cough, if death did not at once 
supervene. Its composition he did not know ; he had bought 
it in the Djambi country. In order, however, that its virtue 
should not be lost it required to be set near the heart of a 
buffalo or of a fowl at frequent intervals. It had besides the 
valuable characteristic of preventing any harm from po son to 



24G A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

the person who carried it about with him. The bag con- 
tained, besides, three calendars of different forms — the thief's 
ephemeris — for computing the day and hour at which success 
or failure would follow the enterprises of his interesting and 
exciting profession. 

The people of the Eawas are of more open, lively and enlight- 
ened character than those I had anywhere encountered. The 
women had less of the bashful and timid disposition of Malays 
of their sex, and were inclined to be talkative and gay, without 
forwardness or want of respect — altogether a more likeable 
people than any other in the Eesidency. 

During my stay at Surulangun there occurred one of the 
high Moslem feast-days, on which it is a custom of the chiefs 
to come to express — " inasmuch as it is a day of congratulation 
among ourselves" — their good- will and wishes towards the 
Government and the person of the Magistrate. Accordingly 
the chiefs of the nearer villages, along with a large company, 
attired in their best, came to the residence of Mr. Kamp, who 
(attended by the Commandant and myself) received them in 
the verandah on to which they filed, with a respectful salaam, 
to a seat in Oriental fashion. After a few minutes, to allow 
every one to become still, the chief of the marga rose ; and I 
shall not soon forget the grace and dignity of his manner and 
bearing and his perfect self-possession and composure. Making 
a distinct and separate bow first to the Magistrate (the ruler 
of the region and representative of the Government), next to 
myself (the stranger and bis guest) and then to the military 
Commandant — the order which the etiquette of the occasion 
made very proper, and most becoming — he made a long 
speech to the Magistrate perfect both in expression and in 
courtly demeanour, and then addressed us in turn. The 
phrases made use of — many of them, in the Malay language, 
extremely terse — to express their own goodwill to the Govern- 
ment were loyal, honourably submissive and hearty, and those 
in which they acknowledged the benefits of good government, 
and the just and mild administration of the Magistrate himself, 
were most courtly and affectionate. To myself terms, aptly 
chosen, were used to signify their pleasure at my visit to their 
country, their sincere wishes that I might enjoy it, and the 
assurances of their utmost hospitality and good-will. The 



IN SUMATRA. 247 



words addressed to the Commandant were very appropriate to 
the commission he held in the district. Altogether it was a 
specimen of the Malay at his best, as a courtier and a gentle- 
man ; and (to me) a most interesting exhibition of the ele- 
gance, the politeness and dignity, which are characteristic of 
their race. 

The dances in vogue are, like themselves, quite different from 
those in other districts ; they are of several forms, are more 
lively and are danced with much spirit, some of them having a 
likeness to European performances, especially one where the 
dancer in her evolutions balances on her head, shoulders and 
hands lighted tapers, reminding one of the German Hugel- 
hupftanz. 

Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 





FLOWER OF CURCUMA ZERUMBET. A, PROCESS OF THE ANTHER ; B, Tl'BERCLE OF THE 

ANTHER ; C, ANTHER; D, THE STIGMA. FIG. 1, THE FLOWER SHOWING ITS ORGAN'S 
IN THEIR NORMAL CONDITION ; FIG. 2, WHEN BEING VISITED BY A BOMBFS. 

The region about Surulangun is one of great interest, as it 
lies on the borders of that little-known forest stretching towards 
Redjang and Djanibi. Among the birds found here I obtained 
the Palaeomis longicaucla, with its metallic-green crown, pink 
head and black-ringed neck, one of the most chastely-coloured 
of the parrots. They used to collect in the highest trees in the 
neighbourhood, and were exceedingly difficult to shoot. In a 
tree near to that occupied by the parrots a species of bee-eater 
(Merojjs sumatranus) flocked in such thousands that as they 
congregated in the evenings they seemed like swarms of bees, 
and the hum of their wings could be heard a long way off. By 
the roads here were some magnificent fig-trees and Diptero- 
carpew. In the low forest a common species of the Ginger 



248 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



family (Curcuma zerumbet) abounded ; but in gathering it, I 
observed that it was provided with one of the many contrivances 
for securing cross-fertilisation which are so interesting to the 
botanist, and give such intense pleasure to his contemplation 
of even the commonest flowers. The flower-stem terminates 
in a head of rich pink leaf-like organs called spathes, which 
supply a brilliant alluring mass of colour to the rather incon- 
spicuous, odourless, though largish white flowers ; the pistil, or 
organ for receiving the fructifying pollen from the stamens, 
passes through a hole in the conjoint anther, and its head 
is protected by a hood in the perianth from all insects and 
intruders which are not large enough to convey its pollen to 
another flower. When, however, there enters a bee or other 
insect large enough to fill the mouth of the flower, it comes in 
contact with the processes a, projecting from the lower margin 
of the compound anther, which act precisely as a lever, for 
when these are pushed backward by the bee pressing in, in 
quest of the nectar at the bottom of the flower, the anther is 
rotated, carrying with it the stigma or top of the pistil on to the 
back of the insect in the most beautiful manner. A bee that 
presses the long appendages of the anther, may rotate down 
the anther so as to carry away pollen on its back, but it will 
not fertilise the flower unless it is large enough to rotate the 
composite anther sufficiently far to bring the little tubercles, b, 
also on to its back, the pressure of which alone rotates the 
pistil tip on to the bee's back. It is evident that the pistil 
can never come into contact with the pollen of its own floret, 
nor can any floret be fertilised unless the insect has entered 
fully into a former flower, and smeared its back with a patch of 
pollen of some length, as long at least as the interval between 
the anther appendages and the pistil. 

As the fertilising insect even begins to back out the lever 
apparatus is instantly released, and the summit of the pistil 
completely returns into the security of its hood. 

When once fertilised the stamens thicken in their central 
part and, contracting in a corkscrew fashion, draw the perianth 
with the stamens and pistil to the bottom of the spathe out of 
harm's way and to make room for the next floret. Mr. Darwin 
has drawn attention to the likeness of the Scitaminese in the 
relation of their essential organs to those of the Orchidacese, and 



IN SUMATRA. 249 



few examples perhaps could exhibit this similarity more than 
the one under notice ; its pollen moreover being less friable 
than that in most species of its family, and singularly viscid. 

I could have spent many months investigating the natural 
history of this district, but, time being short, I pressed on to 
reach Muara Mengkulem, whence I hoped to be able to make 
an expedition into the Djambi Lands. Using his great influ- 
ence with its chiefs, the Pangeran of the Bawas might be able 
to obtain entrance for a white man not a Hollander, of whose 
entrance the Sultan was naturally extremely jealous and 
afraid. From Surulangun the road kept by the north side of 
the Rawas river, to the halfway village of Pulau Kida, near 
which is the boundary between the diluvium of recent age 
and the Palaeozoic strata, which, extending away north-west to 
Limun, contains the auriferous rocks which have made that 
country famous for the quality and colour of its gold. I passed 
many people washing the earth of the high banks of the river ; 
and at a spot some sixty feet above its present bed, opposite 
Avhereitis obstructed by a cataract a mile and a half in length, 
I saw an ancient mine of the natives. Late in the afternoon 
we reached Muara Meiigkuleia. 



250 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SOJOTJKN IN THE PALEMBANG RESIDENCY — continued. 

Muara Mengkulem — Refused entrance into the Djambi Sultanate— Napal 
Litjin — Peak of Karang-nata — Geological formation — Botanical features 
— Birds — Hemipteron milked by ants — Rakit life — Bigin-telok — "Water 
roads — An escape from drowning — Pau — River squall — Approach to 
Palembang — River life and its massive joy — The town of Palembang — 
Return to Batavia. 

On arriving at Muara Mengkulem I was bitterly disappointed 
to hear from the Pangeran that he considered it extremely 
improbable that the Panghulus of Djambi (all the chiefs of 
the villages in Djambi are priests, the people being bigoted 
Mahomedans) would consent to my traversing their country, 
as there was a great deal of fighting going on in the interior. 
He, however, consented to send a messenger to those among 
them who were his friends at Bukit-bulan five miles distant, 
explaining who I was and for what object I wished to visit their 
country, to which after an interval of some days a reply was 
brought, that though personally favourable to me they could 
not be surety for my safety, and advised me not to attempt to 
enter without the mandate of the Sultan, meaning not the 
Sultan recognised by the Dutch Government, but the previous 
deposed ruler, who had taken up his court in the interior of 
the country and whom all the Djambi people recognised. 
This was very disappointing, but I had fared no worse than 
the Dutch Mid-Sumatra expedition, which, two years before, 
had been advised to turn back at that same place. I proceeded 
a stage still farther up the river to Napal Litjin, my farthest 
northern station, a very picturesque village at the foot of 
another of those nearly perpendicular limestone peaks of which 
I have made mention more than once, as lying on the eastern 
outskirts of the Barisan range. 



IN SUMATRA. 251 



The ascent of the Karang-nata, as the principal peak is 
called, was by no means easy, as its white cliffs — which from 
below glinted prettily through the vegetation — were almost 
perpendicular, and had to be scrambled up by digging one's 
fingers and toes well into the crevices. It has several caves full 
of stalactites, one especially being of great dimensions, whose 
numerous chambers were tenanted by thousands of bats, whose 
stifling guano-like odour met me half-way down. The hill is 
composed of a broad band of crystalline limestone bedded 
between Devonian slates tilted up on edge, which at the base 
of the hill run under the diluvium of the Palembanar Plain. 
The larger cave is in its interior quite protected from the severe 
effects of the weather, but it bears evident traces of what must, 
I think, be attributed to sea erosion. The summit is a vast 
rockery of disjointed blocks, with trees growing in the crevices, 
their stems, as well as the crannies and faces of the rocks, 
loaded with ferns and orchids (Cselogyne, spp.) bearing trosses 
of flowers more than a yard in length ; with various species of 
Me'astoma exhibiting bright flowers or pink fruits, but princi- 
pally with a shrubby species, in great profusion, of Cyrtandrese, 
having a flower of a rich purple-blue colour, which to my great 
satisfaction I perceived to belong to a new species, which I 
have named Boea Treubii* and probably to a new genus of 
that beautiful family. During the ten days — to my regret all 
the time I could spare — of my stay in this region I made 
large additions — some 200 species — to my herbarium among 
the specimens of trees, one being a species of nutmeg with 
fruit as large as the largest orange. 

Here, too, I noticed a singular case of ants milking a winged 
Hemipteron, which of course could not be kept in captivity, 
as they do many species of the wingless aphides. The 
Hemipteron sat quietly, evidently enjoying the operation, and 
at frequent intervals discharged a drop of matter, which was 
eagerly sipped up by the ants. 

I have already spoken of the great beauty of the riverside 
vegetation coming down the Kupit which ran through a 
less great forest than that between Napal Litjin and Muara 

* So named in honour of Dr. Melchior Treub, the esteemed Director if the 
Botanical Gardens in Buitcnzorg, t<> whose kind aid and influence I owed 
much during my stay in tho Archipelago. 



252 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

Mengkulem, which is perfectly virgin and is perhaps of 
as vast an age as the period which has elapsed since the 
beginning of the upraising of the 180 miles of country that 
now separates it from the sea. The display of flower and fruit 
along the Eawas river was still finer, and, in fact, it could 
scarcely have been richer. While Oak-trees in full blossom 
characterised the Eupit, Dipterocarpese, the family which gives 
us the Camphor-tree and supplies a great deal of the dammar 
of commerce, and some of which are among the tallest of 
trees, were along the Eawas the distinguishing feature — though 
clumps of oak were plentiful enough too — the brilliant pink 
and rose coloured " wings " that adorn their ripening fruits 
having the appearance of tassels hanging from the tips of 
the branches all over their immense crowns. Over some 
of the highest trees, and spread continuously across the forest 
for hundreds of yards at a stretch, was a Leguminose climber 
(Bauhinio) with rich orange and scarlet flowers. Blue fishing- 
hawks (Polisetus liumilis) sat in motionless watch on the 
projecting limbs of trees ; Ehinoceros birds (Anthracocerus 
eonvexus and Rhytidoceros subruficoIUs) clambered on the fruit- 
laden fig-trees, conspicuous by the rich colour of their beaks 
— derived from the oil-gland at the tail in B. rhinoceros. 
Herons and Bitterns hunted in the sandy bends, kingfishers 
flew out from every corner, and flocks of sand-plovers zig- 
zagged away with a-frightened scream as we passed along ; 
while on the projecting stones on the river, black cormorants 
(Phalocracorax) eagerly watched for their finny prey, and 
flocks of pure white egrets displayed to advantage their spot- 
less plumage against the dark foliage of the tops of the trees. 
On my return to Muara Mengkulem, I had at once to prepare 
to start for the coast. While I was packing up I sent down men 
to Pulau-kida, the village below the cataract, to construct for 
me a Eakit in which to travel to Palembano;. In these lar^e 
house-like structures — floated on bamboo rafts — the whole 
produce of the up regions of the river are conveyed to the coast 
markets. Mine, however, while resembling the trade Eakit in 
appearance, was fitted up with much regard to comfort, for I 
intended the remainder of my Sumatra journey to be a pleasure 
trip. On a raft 40 feet long and 15 wide, made of the largest 
bamboos seven or eight tiers deep, was erected a neat house, sur- 



IN SUMATRA. 253 



rounded on all sides by a platform under the shade of the roof. 
I divided it into a writing room and sleeping chamber in front, 
and a store for my collections and a dormitory for my servants 
behind. Behind this was another long raft slightly narrower, 
floored with earth on which a trellis frame-work stood, and 
the whole housed over. On this earthen floor a fire was 
continually kept burning to dry the bundles of herbarium laid 
on the trellis-work over it. 

I had looked forward with intensest pleasure to this mode of 
travel, and it was therefore with extreme satisfaction that, on 
the 27th of November, 1881, 1 arrived from Muara Mengkulem 
and took possession of my floating home. Inside, I lined 
my sitting-room with white cotton cloth, hung a few drawings, 
photographs, and trophies about the walls, fixed my table, 
and laid out my books and the implements of my profession. 
The outside I hung round profusely with living orchids, some 
of them in magnificent flower. Next morning, full of the most 
buoyant feelings, I loosed its cable and let it glide off down the 
Rawas River, along a great avenue broken at distant intervals 
only by gambir gardens and factories of Catechu. 

All the villages along the river had been informed of my 
coming, and on notifying my approach by the beating of a 
gong, a complement of rowers — more properly of pilots— came 
off in small boats and relieved their fellows of the village 
above. In the upper reaches of the river it required 16 pilots 
to guide this long flotilla — whose duty it was to keep the 
stern of the Rakit straight to the stream especially at corners 
and rapids, by pulling on long fixed lever-like oars at stem and 
stern, which they worked standing. All day long I collected 
plants from the river banks, by means of a light skiff, as the 
stream moved very slowly, anchoring each night under some 
great tree bv the margin. 

After a seven days' journey I halted for a more prolonged 
stay at the village of Bigin-telok, to make some closer 
acquaintance with the flora of the flatter lands which began 
there. It was then the wet season, and the surrounding country 
was under water for miles from the river bank, and botan- 
ising from a boat was a curious experience ; for after entering 
some side stream a little way, all distinction of stream or 
no stream was lost, and I could simply sail about among 
18 



254 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



the trees in any direction I wished, but such work required 
the attendance of a good guide. Jambus (Jambosa spp.) 
seemed to be among the most common trees, and their long 
white stamened flowers, falling on the water, glided down the 
stream like so many stars. The whole surface of the water 
was covered, absolutely in a close sheet, with petals, fruits 
and leaves, of innumerable species. In placid corners some- 
times I noted a collected mass nearly half a foot deep, among 
which, on examination, I could scarcely find a leaf that was 
perfect, or that remained attached to its rightful neighbour, 
so that were they to become imbedded in some soft muddy 
spot, and in after ages to reappear in fossil form, they would 
afford a few difficult puzzles to the Palaeontologist, both to 
separate and to put together. 

In many of these places the water reached to the great 
depth of 60 and 70 feet, and swarmed with crocodiles. 
While shooting one day on such a spot, from a small skiff 
capable of holding only myself and the man who oared it, I 
fired at a bird among some stranded logs, and the recoil of my 
gun, perched as I was on the tip of the prau, overbalanced 
me into the water. Had not at the moment of falling my 
left hand unconsciously caught the side of the boat, I should 
have fared ill, for I had instinctively clutched my fowling- 
piece, and was besides wearing a pair of heavy shooting boots. 
My weight on the side would have capsized the skiff had not 
my rower righted it by a self-preservatory act, which drew my 
head out of the water, when I scrambled into the boat. The 
poor fellow was utterly paralysed with terror, and presented so 
comical a countenance that I could not help laughing at him. 
He would scarcely allow me to move again in the boat, and 
had I not used threats, he would have paddled me back to the 
village without waiting even to pick up the bird I had shot. 
" What would have awaited me," he moaned in a most com- 
plaining tone, as if I had jumped into the river to bring woe 
on him, " if I had rowed you out and returned without you ? 
The whole village," he sobbed, the tears actually appearing on 
his eyelids, " would not have been able to pay the blood-money 
for you, and I should never have been able to stay any longer 
there." Not a word escaped him as to my feelings on encoun- 
tering a crocodile. He was evidently relieved of the heaviest 



IN SUMATRA. 255 



responsibility he had ever borne when he deposited me again 
on my own Pakit. 

Some of the trees which were growing near the mouth of 
the side streams, could the forty or fifty feet of water in which 
they stood have been removed to show them from their roots 
upwards, must have been stupendous specimens of arboreal 
vegetation. I gathered a slender species of Pandan (P. helio* 
copus), standing above the water to a height of thirty to thirty- 
five feet, where the water measured between forty-five and fifty 
feet, giving seventy to eighty feet for its true height. Here 
I caught, in the act of swimming across the river, a lovely little 
Carnivore (Linsang gracilib), one of the most beautiful of its 
race, which, though I kept alive for a long time, never, to my 
regret, became very tame, and therefore did not gain in my 
affection the place that its beauty deserved, which was given 
to another member of my menagerie, the curious crepuscular 
honey-stealing Malay Bear. 

My next halting place was the village of Pau, situated a little 
below the junction of the water of the Rawas region with the 
Musi which comes past Tebbing-tinggi, a celebrated prau 
building depot doing a great trade with Palembang. These 
boats, from six to seven feet in breadth, are made from a 
single tree stem, out of which no one not acquainted with the 
manner of their construction, on seeing it newly felled, would 
believe that a boat of these dimensions could possibly bo 
made. When the stem has been partially excavated, fires are 
kindled in the hollow, and bars of wood changed at intervals 
for longer ones, are forced in crosswise to separate the sides. 
The greatest possible care is necessary in this operation, as 
the heat often at the very last will start a knot, or crack the 
log, rendering A\ their work of months useless. A perfect 
pantjalan, therefore, costs a large sum. 

Pleasant as " rakiting " was, it had its perils, for where the 
river widened out greatly and decreased in current, the wind 
blowing across the stream rendered navigation very dangerous. 
About 100 miles above Palembang (and 150 from the sea) 
we were caught in a heavy squall of wind and rain in the night 
time, which simply took the entire control of our rather 
unwieldy vessels. So intensely dark was the night that w had 
no idea, except when a momentary gleam of lightning lit up 



256 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

the scene, in what direction we were being borne, and we spent 
several hours of great anxiety lest we should be driven on one 
of the many sunken tree stems with which the river was 
studded. 

Four days sail below Pau and past the confluence of the 
Lamatang. with its complement of water and commerce from* 
Lahat and Muara Enim, we found ourselves in the midst of 
growing signs of approach to a great centre of activity, making 
up for the monotony of the landscape through which we had 
for a day or two been travelling ; for the low banks had shut 
out all view, and their distance on both sides, so broad was 
the river, had precluded me from identifying their vegetation. 
Large Palembang praus bright in scarlet or blue decorations, 
began to be met in little fleets, being laboriously poled up 
stream close under the banks out of the current ; and every little 
while a gay skiff, propelled by two or three flashing oars, would 
enliven and glide athwart the picture, and disappearing again 
leave us to our plodding way. In the almost dead water we 
overtook and were overtaken in turn by numberless Rakits, 
single or in immense strings of from twenty to thirty made 
fast one behind the other, often nearly half a mile in length, 
and broad rafts hundreds of yards in length, mostly of laurel 
wood, for the cabinet makers for whom Palembang is famous. 

At sundown on the 20th of December I moored, not far 
from the confluence of the Ogan, which brings to the capital 
the tribute of Muara-dua and Batu-radja, in sight of Palem- 
bang, amid a curious scene. Below my Rakit there stretched 
away to a great distance a broad unbroken plain of log rafts, 
on which a large population of men, women, and children was 
encamped ; some were under the shelter of a few palm-leaf mats, 
others, detected by the light playing on their faces, crouched in 
small groups here and there round little fires, the whole, in the 
dying light of the still evening, forming a rather weird scene. 

It was indeed with feelings of regret that I found I had 
arrived within sight of the end of a journey which will always 
remain in my memory as one of the deepest enjoyments of my 
life. Crowned by the last month of river-life, with its varying 
impressions and sensations, it had been full of the intensest 
gratification, and still is when I recall that long panorama- 
like picture. 



IN SUMATRA. 237 



To recall the magnificent flora of the upper reaches of the river 
almost makes me retract the statement that the tropics present 
few flowers ; for so blossom -spangled a road it would be difficult 
to match anywhere;— it is only in the beginning of the wet 
season, however, and along the steep banks of some such 
river, wide enough to let in the sunlight and the free breath 
of heaven, that one must look for, or indeed expect to be 
able to see such a display. The singular trackless streets, 
roads, and paths of water by whicli I rambled among the 
forest avenues are never to be forgotten reminiscences; nor 
lower down the slow majesty of the widening river between 
its level banks fronted with tall reeds, dark-foliaged figs, and 
groves of Eriodendron trees, with their stiff trifid arms ; and 
at last the broad expanse of its united affluents by whose 
sources I had for so many months encamped, drawing towards 
itself the atoms of produce of two degrees of latitude, and 
concentrating them into a hot nucleus of commercial life and 
activity. Intermingled with all these memories are a thousand 
indescribable vignettes ; miniatures of quaint nooks and sandy 
bays, and embossed villages, of out-of-the-world ways and 
habits and customs, of the intermittent comers and goers ; of 
the changing features of the river's face itself in wind and 
rain, in early morning or noonday sun, in evening shades, 
under the pale moon, and in the solemn silence of the 
darkness. Surveyed from my window in the intervals of 
occupation, or seated under the verandah in the cool evenings, 
this changing landscape of days and days (so placid and 
imperceptible was to me the motion of our gliding down, 
and so full of that exhilarating relief from labour and 
fatigue) seemed to move past my eyes of its own accord, and 
afforded me a continued and massive sensation of delight 
that nothing could disturb, and which can be but faintly 
conceived by those who have not experienced this uncommon 
mode of travel which is absolutely different from that by any 
other water-carriage. 

My very last stage, however, was through, perhaps, as un- 
wonted a scene as I may ever look on ; it was an eight hours' sail 
through the city of Palembang itself, which is certainly one of 
the curiosities of the East. Throwing off from our anchorage 
about eight o'clock in the morning, we slid down between miles 



258 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



and miles of log-rafts moored to the banks, packed close 
together forming an immense pavement, with an abundant 
population ; then on each side Eakits large and small, in all 
positions— sideways, lengthwise, crossways, choke-a-block, as if 
the river had swept away a village or two and stranded them 
there anyhow — to which a continuous stream of little skiffs were 
constantly bringing the dealers in the different products, who 
might be seen in little knots on the steering stages discussing 
terms over siri and betel. Anxious to make advantageous 
terms, eager traders were shooting past on a several days' jour- 
ney up stream to meet expected and valuably loaded flakits, 
which, if large and freighted with dammar, gum elastic, gutta- 
percha, will cost as much as £500. As no bamboo grows near 
Palembang, and none of the larger sorts nearer than the 
sources of the river, the Kakit itself is an eager subject of 
barter, and always fetches a sum which largely remunerates 
the cost of its building and transport the whole length of the 
river. Seaward from this heterogeneous collection, which was 
not permitted to pass beyond the upper boundaries of the town 
to clog its avenues, I entered Palembang proper, a single row 
of cabins on each bank, with their faces to the river, built on 
immense log rafts which stretched out in front of them as a 
broad platform, forming their landing stage and approach — 
on one side the Malay portion of the town, on the other the 
Chinese shops and abodes — the whole rising and falling 
many feet with every tide. Everywhere innumerable little 
boats flashed about over the bright sunlit water, here Avith 
a woman in a blue tunic and a deep scarlet head- cloth calling 
out her store of fruits ; there, propelled by urgent arms 
conveying the busy merchant ; and from a hidden corner 
where it had been lying in wait, would dart out, like a spider 
from its lair, some other prau, and lassoing a slowly pi ising 
log would pull in again with an item of livelihood gleaned 
from the flotsam harvest which the river was continually 
bringing down. 

At length a bend of the river brought me in sight of the 
European and official quarter of the city situated on the 
northern bank, opposite which lay at anchor, steamers and 
vessels of many rigs, all looking gigantic to my eyes, unac- 
customed for so many months to such a sight. Slowly 



IN SUMATRA. 259 



floating down the river, I moored, with the Resident's* per- 
mission, opposite the Residency stairs. Instantly a curious 
crowd that never dispersed during the whole of my stay, 
lined the bank to see and discuss the unusual flotilla, which on 
my arrival presented a singularly picturesque appearance, as 
the entire exterior of my Rakit was one mass of blossoms from 
the orchids suspended round it, and its cargo of plants, skins, 
living birds, and Honey-bears, and the beautiful little Linsang 
formed an unwonted shipment. 

Palembang, the capital of the Residency, contains a great 
population of from 50,000 to 60,000 souls, of Arab, Chinese, 
Javanese and Malays. They speak the Malay language inter- 
mixed with much Javanese, and write it either in Arabic or 
Javanese characters. It is the seat of a great export and 
import trade with Batavia, Singapore, Siam, and China, and is 
famed for its manufacture of furniture, especially of laquer 
work, made by Chinese brought for the purpose from their own 
country by rich Palembang-Chinese artificers, and for the weav- 
ing of rich sarongs of silk interwrought with gold into most 
elegant designs. Everywhere one perceived signs of business 
and activity, but I saw none so eager for employment as the 
ferry-boat men, who at the various landing-places screamed 
themselves hoarse at every approaching passenger, crying up 
the special qualities of their boats, and the generously low 
sum for which they would condescend to ferry one over, and 
then with sarcastic jokes and laughter falling to upbraid and 
praise the successful ferryman and his boat; they might have 
been Egyptian donkey drivers or English omnibus conductors, 
who had changed their skin and their occupation, rather than 
staid Malays. 

The most important buildings are the combined palace and 
barracks of the Sultans built in 1780 by, as report goes, a 
European, a strong, massive edifice surrounded by a stone 
rampart in which now the garrison is quartered ; the elegant 
house of the Resident, looking out on the river from a little 
distance back ; the Chinese Joss-house, and the Mosque floored 
with marble, and having a minaret 100 feet high. It is nearly 
150 years of age ; but it certainly looks better at a little distance 

* At that time, the distinguished and urbane officer, Mr. Laging Tobias, 
afterwards Governor of Acheen. 



200 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



off than at close quarters. Besides these, a little way from 
the town, are the tombs of the Sultans, where many of the 
devout go to pray; but perhaps the most interesting and 
curious to the Western visitor — a spot held in the utmost 
veneration by the Palembangers — is the grave of SeJcandar 
Alam, or Alexander the Great, whom the Sultans and most 
of the chiefs of Palembang claim as their illustrious fore- 
father. 

In the neighbourhood of the Government offices stands the 
market, which — as are many of the houses, especially those of 
the Chinese shop-keepers — is substantially built of stone, a 
material which along with iron-wood, was during the reign of 
the Sultans forbidden to all save members of the Eoyal house 
as a building material. 

On Sunday, the 25th December, twelve months from my 
starting from the mouth of the Semangka Eiver, I sailed for 
Batavia, and the last pictures of Sumatra that I recall are the 
heaving and surging in the troubled water of our screw of the 
floating dwellings on both banks as far as the eye could reach 
to what seemed their imminent destruction, attended by the 
overthrow from the gaping and closing of the log platforms 
of the children at their play (some of them actually into the 
river), their ineffectual scrambling to regain their footing, 
and the attempts of their more unconcerned elders to retain 
theirs on the unstable foundations of their home — in some 
aspects a very ludicrous scene ; and the interminable stretch 
of nipa-palms that cover, in a low dense forest, the watery 
uninhabitable mud-flats that extend for fifty miles from the 
city to the sea. 

After making a short call at Muntok in Banka, between 
which and Sumatra a plateau covered by only three fathoms of 
water exists, I was landed on the 27th of the month in Batavia, 
where I at once set about my preparations for an extended 
journey to the less civilised islands in the Far East of the 
Archipelago. 



IN SUMATRA. 2G1 



APPENDIX TO PAET III. 



I.— ON THE OSTEOLOGICAL CHAEACTERS OF THE 
KUBUS OF SUMATRA. 

By J. G. Garson, M.D., F.Z.S., Memb. Antbrop. Inst.; Royal Col. Surg. 
Eng. ; Lecturer on Comparative Anatomy, Charing Cross Hospital. 

The osteological remains of the Kubus of Sumatra, placed in my bands for 
examination by Mr. H. 0. Forbes, consisted of the skeleton of a female and 
a single skull, also that of a female, which are now in the possession of the 
British Museum. Both specimens were those of adults of middle age. 

The height of seven males (measured by Mr. Forbes) averaged 1569 mm., 
or almost exactly the same as that of adult Englishwomen (1592 mm.), 
while the average height of the five females was 1-193 mm. ; the difference 
between the stature of the male and female Kubus is therefore 103 mm. 
The height of the skeleton ])laced in my hands, estimated from the length 
of the femur, is 1450 mm., which, allowing for the soft parts existing in 
the living body, would indicate the stature of this individual to be about 
the average of the females measured by Mr. Forbes. 

Characters of the Skull. 

Cranium. — The appearance presented by the drawings taken from 
life by Mr. Forbes shows that the skull is of moderate length, somewhat 
narrow transversely in the region of the forehead, and flat in the glabella 
and superciliary regions: the malars are prominent, the nose becomes 
gradually elevated towards the tip, its contour following a wide arc ; tlie 
chin is narrow- but not pointed ; the lips are thick and prominent, and 
the hair is straight with a tendency to curl. 

Turning to the skulls we are at once struck by the strong resemblance 
they bear to one another in general appearance, the only difference 
observable being that that belonging to the skeleton is somewhat larger 
generally than the other. This resemblance between the two skulls is 
confirmed by an examination of the principal measurements, which arc 
given in the annexed table. The maximum length of the one is 17-1 mm 
and of the other 173 mm., while their maximum breadth is 135 mm. and 
136 mm. respectively. These measurements give a cephalic index to the 
one of 776, and to the other of 78'6, which places them in the mesatc- 
cephalic group of Flower, and of the Frankfurter Verstendiung. 

The altitudinal index (the ratio of the basio-bregmatie height to the 
maximum length) differs somewhat in the the two skulls, that belong- 
ing to the skeleton being considerably higher than the other; but m 
neither instance does the height exceed the breadth. 

The general form of the cranium, as seen in the norma ve> calis, is 



262 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



narrow in front, the sides straight and gradually diverging to the parietal 
eminences, which are situated near the posterior border of the parietal 
bones. The differences in the broadening out of the cranium from the 
anterior frontal to the parietal regions in the two skulls is well seen by 
comparing the relation of the minimum and maximum frontal breadths 
of each with their respective maximum breadth, this latter being taken 
as 100. In the skull belonging to the skeleton, which we will designate 
as No. 1, the indices are 674, 79*2, and 100 ; in the other skull, which we 
will call No. 2, they are 64, 77-2, and 100. The glabellar region is flat and 
smooth, corresponding to outline No. of Broca in skull No. 1, and to 
No. 1. in skull No. 2; superciliary iidges are entirely absent. The fore- 
head rises somewhat vertically to the level of the frontal eminences 
(which are not prominent), and then slopes backwaids and upwards till 
it attains its maximum, which is situated in the parietal region. Viewed 
from the norma frontalis, the arch of the top of the cranium is markedly 
flat, giving the Stephanie region a somewhat angular appearance. In the 
parieto-occipital region the contour of the cranium falls with a moderate 
curve towards the foramen magnum. The general surface of the cranium 
is smooth, and the muscular ridges are little pronounced. The mastoid 
processes are feebly developed. 

The sutures are very simple in No. 2, but somewhat more complicated 
in No. 1, though still simple ; those in the former being represented by 
Broca's outlines of complication of sutures No. 2 for the fronto-parietal, 
and No. 3 for the parieto-occipital suture, the latter by No. 2—3 for the 
fronto-parietal, and No. 4 for the parieto-occipital. Wormian bones are 
not present in either skull. In No. 2 the sutures are more open than in 
No. 1,* in which the coronal and sagittal sutures are approaching 
obliteration. 

With regard to the projection of the zygomatic arches, in relation to 
the contour of the bi-stephanic region, No. 2 is slightly phsenozygous, 
but in No. 1 the arches are not visible, bi-zygo-stephanic index being 
87 - 7 in No. 1, and 91'3 in No. 2. In my paper on the Cranial Characters 
of the Natives of Timor-laut,f I showed that skulls in which this index is 
90 and upwards are phsenozygous ; these Kubu skulls are therefore on 
the border-line between the two conditions. The inion is fully developed 
in both skulls, being represented by Broca's outline No. 1. 

The average horizontal circumference of the two skulls is 4 C J0 mm., 10 
mm. less than the average circumference of the heads of the five living 
females measured by Mr. Forbes. 

Facial portion. — The nasal bones have a very characteristic shape ; they 
are not moderately prominent in respect to the plane of the face, and 
form a gentle curve from above downwards, being intermediate in curve 
between Broca's outlines Nos. 1 and 2. The nasal aperture differs in the 
two skulls: in No. 1 it is longer and slightly narrower than in No. 2, the 
index of the former being 50, while that of the latter is 56'8, which places 
No. 1. in the middle of the mesorhine group (48 — 53), and No. 2 well 
within the platyrhine (above 53). The inferior border is nearly straight 
transversly, and is fairly well defined. The nasal spine of No. 1 is 
represented by Broca's outline No. 2, and in skull No. 2 by the outline of 
No. 1. 

The orbits are somewhat more rounded in No. 1 than in No. 2, the 
orbital index of the former being 89 2 and of the latter SOT. The 
margins of the orbits are thin and sharply defined. 

* Report of the Anthrop. Committee of the Brit. Assoc. (Kep. Brit. Assoc, 
p. 2G0, 18S3). 

t Journ. Anthrop. Inst. vcl. xiii. p. 391 (1884). 



IN SUMATRA. 263 



The malar bones arc narrow vertically, flattened anteriorly, and curve 
abruptly backwards, which gives that marked prominence at the malar 
point so well seen in the drawings by Mr. Forbes. The nasi-malar angle 
of No. 1 skull is 143°, and of the other 140°. 

The alveolar index of the two skulls is very similar, being 96 - 9 in No. 1, 
and 98-8 in No. 2. They are therefore on the border-land, figuratively 
speaking, between orthognathous and mesognathous. 

The palato-maxillary index of No. 1 is 126, and of No. 2, 120-4, 
measuring the length and breadth of this region according to Professor 
Flower's plan. The palate is comparatively flat. The teeth are in good 
condition, small in size, and little worn. In No. 1 the two upper incisors 
have been lost during life. 

The relation of the breadth of the middle portion of the face, from the 
alveolar point to the nasion, to the bi-zygomatic breadth (the latter being 
taken as 100), is as 525 and 539 to 100 in the two skulls respectively. 
This is the mid- facial index of Kolinann, and shows a very close similarity 
in the two skulls. 

The different measurements of the mandible show great similarity. 
The chief point to be noted in this bone is the obtuseness of the symphesial 
angle, which is 84° in the one, and 88° in the other skull, indicating a 
much more vertical chin than obtains generally in Europeans. 

The pelvis not being articulated, J was unable to ascertain all the 
measurements which should be taken, but I measured the transverse and 
antero-posterior diameter of the brim, which are undoubtedly the most 
important dimensions. The transverse diameter of the brim measured 
177 mm., and the antero-posterior diameter 122, which gives a pelvic 
index (taking the transverse diameter as 100) of 1043. The index of 
forty-nine European female pelves, measured by Verneau and myself, 
was 79 - ; while that of thirteen Andamanese, measured by myself, was 
96'2. The antero-posterior length in comparison to the transverse 
breadth of the brim in this Kubu woman's pelvis is extreme ; indeed I 
have never ?een or measured a pelvis of so exaggerated a type, approach- 
ing in form nearly to that of the anthropomorphous apes. The great 
antero-posterior length of this specimen is duo chiefly to the straightness 
of the sacrum. It is extremely desirable that additional specimens 
should be procured, so as to ascertain whether such a form of pelvis is 
normal in this race. 

The scapular index, or the ratio of the breadth of the scapula to the 
length, the latter being taken as 100, is 72*95 in the Kubu, in the 
Europeans (Flower and myself) 652, in Negroes (Broca) 6816, and in 
Andamanese (Flower) 69 - 8. 

The limb bones are slender; the index obtained by comparison of the 
upper and lower limbs with each other — the inter-membral index, or the 
length of the humerus and radius added together— compared with that 
of the femur and tibia (the latter being taken as 100), is 70. This index 
in Europeans measured by Professors Broca and Flower was found to be 
692 and 6973 respectively ; in Negroes Broca ascertained it to be 68 27 ; 
and in nineteen Andamanese Flower found it to be 68 3. 

This high index shows an approximation in the proportions of the limbs 
of the Kubus to those of the anthropoid apes, and indicates that the 
length of the upper limb is considerably greater in proportion than that 
of the lower as compared to what obtains in Europeans. In the Negro 
and the Andamanese, on the other hand, the upper limb is proportion- 
ately shorter than the lower. 

The femoro-humeral index, or the ratio of the humerus to the femur, 
the latter being taken as 100, is 752. In twenty Europeans me .sured 



2G4 A NATURALIST'S WANDEBINQS 

by Broca and Flower it is 72'45, in sixteen Negro'-s (Broca) 6979, and in 
nineteen Andamanese (Flower) G9 - 8. In this index also the variation 
in the Kubus from the Europeans is in an opposite direction to that of 
the Negroes and the Andamanese. 

The femoro-tibial index, or the ratio of -the tibia to the femur, the 
latter being taken as 100, is 807 in the Kubu, 821 in the European 
(Flower), 847 in the Negro (Humphrey), and 84 - 5 in the Andamanese 
(Flower). 

The humero-radial index, or the length of the radius compared to the 
humerus, the latter being taken as 1U0, is 74T, in Europeans (Broca and 
Flower) 73'9, in Negroes (Broca) 79 4, and in Andamanese (Flower) 8T0. 

Relations of the Kubus to other Races. 

I have already said that on comparing the two skulls side by side, one 
is struck with the close resemblance they bear to one another. There is 
quite as close a resemblance between these two skulls as exists between 
Andamanese skulls. Such a condition occurring in a sufficiently large series 
would indicate purity of race, or at least isolation for a long period of 
years. Unfortunately the number of Kubu skulls before us is not 
sufficiently large to justify very definite statements regarding them, 
though I think sufficient to answer one question which presents itself 
to us for solution : namely, as to what race the Kubus are allied — whether 
they possess Negrito or Malayan affinities. The character of the hair, 
the form of the nose, the various characters of the skull, and the pro- 
portion of the limb bones show that they cannot have any near affinity 
to the Negrito race found in various parts of the Indo-Malayan Archi- 
pelago, but that they are decidedly Malays, and therefore Mongoloid. 
The high nasi-malar angle, the high and broad face, the flat forehead 
owing to absence of all glabellar and superciliary ridges, the slight sub- 
glabellar nasal depressions, and the nomadic life they lead, are all highly 
characteristic of the Mongolian race. 

The frizzle in the hair seen in the drawings by Mr. Forbes is probably 
to be accounted for by their having at some remote period intermingled 
slightly with the Negrito people, possibly during their migration 
southward. There is, however, evidence that they have for a long period 
been isolated from the other surrounding inhabitants of the island, and 
that by absence of infusion of fresh blood they have come to resemble one 
another so closely that they now possess certain definite characteristics of 
a more or less stable nature. It is, however, very desirable that these 
observations should be extended by a study of a larger quantity of 
material from which to gather information than has been at my disposal. 
In the meantime we have to thank Mr. Forbes for the trouble he has been 
at to secure what must be considered a very valuable addition to our 
specimens illustrating the osteology of the Indo-Malayan Archipelago. 

[From the Journal of the Anthropological Institute for November, 
1884.] 



IN SUMATRA. 



265 



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2G8 A NATURALIST* S WANDERINGS 



II.-LIST OP THE BIRDS OF SUMATRA. 

" The first systematic account of the avi-fauna of Sumatra " (I quote 
from the late Lord Tweeddale's valuable paper, On a collection of birds 
made in the Lampongs in 1876 by Mr. E. 0. Buxton, in the Ibis for 1877, 
page 283) "was written by Sir Stamford Raffles at Fort Marlborough, 
near Bencoolen. . . Most of the birds enumerated were obtained in the 
vicinity of Bencoolen itself, or during short trips into the interior of 
the district of that name, during the years 1819 and 1820, partly by 
Sir Stamford, assisted by Dr. Joseph Arnold, and partly by Messrs. 
Diard and Duvaucel. These two gentlemen were French naturalists, 
whose services Sir Stamford had secured while on a visit to Bengal. An 
unfortunate misunderstanding that soon after their arrival in Sumatra 
occurred between the Lieutenant-Governor and these two Frenchmen, 
led, in about twelve months, to a cessation of their labours, and to their 
departure from Bencoolen ; and Sir Stamford was obliged to undertake 
the description of the materials collected himself, or to allow the results 
to be published in France. Hence his papers in the ' Linnean Trans- 
actions.' The number of species therein catalogued, and more or less 
described, is about 168. But some birds obtained in the Prince-of- Wales 
Island and Singapore are included, and a few species appear to have 
been introduced into the list through oversight, and on the strength of 
caged birds. 

" In 1830, Lady Raffles published a memoir of her late husband, to 
which was appended a catalogue, by Vigors, of the zoological specimens 
collected in Sumatra. . . . About 194 species are enumerated. 

" Since 1830, no attempt at a complete account of the birds of Sumatra has 
been published ; but a good many species not contained in Vigors' list have 
been discovered and described, principally by the Dutch zoologists, more 
particularly by Temminck and by Solomon Miiller. Mr. A. R. Wallace, 
during a stay of about three months in the year 1861, collected some birds 
in the district of Palembang, penetrating a hundred and twenty miles 
inland; but no separate account of his collection has appeared. 

" During a period of about five months, commencing the 30th of May 
1876, Mr. Edmond C. Buxton travelled in the Lampong district . . . He 
started from Telok Betong. and went inland to Sukadana, a distance of 
about eighty miles, and obtained in all 152 species, of which two were 
undescribed." 

"Prom 1877-1879, the Dutch mid-Sumatra expedition, through the 
Padang Highlands and along the Batang Hari river, added much to our 
knowledge of the natural history of that region. 

From June to September, 1878, Dr. Beccari, the well-known Italian 
naturalist, visited and collected on the mountains of Padang, chiefly on 
Mount Singalan (8900 feet). It contained representatives of many Indo- 
Chinese genera which have not been found in the Lampongs, some of 
which were, however, collected by the Author in the more Southern 
residency of Palembang. 

In August of the same year, Mr. Carl Bock, a Swedish naturalist, 
collected over the same region on behalf of the late Lord Tweecldalc.. 
obtaining 166 species. An account of this collection by Captain Wardlaw 
Ramsay will be found in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of 
London, 1880, p. 13. 

During 1880-1881, the Author made extensive collections in the Lam- 
pong and Palembang Residencies, which have been carefully worked out 
by Mr. F. Nicholson, and a list given in the Ibis for 1879, pp. 51 and 235. 



IN SUMATRA. 269 



Astur trivirgatus, Temm. Lanipongs. 

Boloensis. Lath. 
Acc'piter virgatus, Temm. Padang. 
Neopns malayensis, Temm. 
Spizaetus hmnaetus, Horsf. 
Spilornis pallidus, Wald. Lampongs. 

baclia, Band. Palembang. Lampongs. 
Hnliastur iutermedius, Gum. 
Milvus govinda, Sykes. 
Pernis ptilonorliyncbus, Temm. 
Baza sumatrensis, Lafr. Palembang. 
Microbierax fringillarius, Drop. Lampongs. Palemban». 
Falco peregiinus, Gm. 

melanogenys, Gould. 
Polioajtus humilis, Mul. and Scld. Palembang. 

icbthyaetus, Horsf. 
Ketupa javanensis, Less. Lampongs. 
Bubo oriental is, Horsf. 
Scops lempiji, Horsf. Lampongs. 

rufescens, Horsf. 
Glaucidium sylvaticum, Bp. 
Ninox scutulata, Raffl. Lampongs. 
Syrnium myrtha, Bp. Palembang. 
Bhopodytes erythrognathus, Haiti- Lampongs. 

diardi, Less. Lampongs. 
Centrocoecyx eurycercus, Hay. Lampongs. Palembang. 

javanensis, Hum. Palembang. 
Zanelostomus javanicus, Horsf. Lampongs. Palembang. 
Surniculus lugubris, L. Lampongs. 
Chrysococcyx xanthorhynchiis, Horsf. 
Hierococcyx fugax, Horsf. Lampongs. 
Peutlioceryx pravatus, Horsf. Lampongs. 
Bhinortba chlorphoea, Raffl. 

Cbrysophlegma mystacalis, Sah. Padang. Palembang. 
Xylolepus validus, Raffl. Lampongs. Palembang. 
Thriponax javensis, Horsf. Lampongs. 
Tiga rafflesi, Vigors. Lampongs. 

javanensis, Ljung. 
Iyngipicua auritus, Eyt. Lampongs. 
Callolophus men talis, Temm. Lampongs. 
puniceus, Horsf. Lampongs 
malaccen-is, Lath. 
Micropternus badius. Baffl. 
Meiglyptes tristis, Horsf. Lampongs. 
tukki, Horsf. Lanipongs. 
Dendrotypes unalis, Horsf. Lampongs, 
Henicurus sordidus, Eyt. Lampongs. 
Loriculus galgulus, L. Palembang. 
Palacornis longicauda, Bodd. Palembang. 
Psittinus inceitus, Shaw. Lampongs. 
Orescius gouldi, Bp. Palembang. 
Harpactes duvauceli, Temm. Lampongs. 
kasumba, Ruffles. Lampongs. 
f-rythrocephalus, Goidd. 
Batracbostomus cornutus, Temm. Lampongs. 
Caprimulgus pulchellus, Salv. Padang. 
Lyncornis temmincki, Goidd. Lampongs. 
Jtferops sumatrana, Raffles. Lampongs. Palembang. 

philippinus. L. Padang. 
Nyctiornis amicta, Temm. Lampongs. Palembang. 
Hegalaima mystacophanos, Temm. Lampongs. 
cbrysopogon, Temm. Lanipongs. 

19 



270 A NATUliALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Sasia Hbnormis, Temm. Lainponss. 
Cypselus Bubfurcatns, Bhjth. Padang. 
Collocaliu I'raneica, Gm. Padang:. 
Macropteryx comatus, Temm. Lampongs. 

longipennis, Raffl. Lampongs. 
Carcinen'es pulchcllus, Horsf. Lampongs. Palembam 
Halcyon pileata, Bodd. Lampongs. Palembang. 
Sauropatis cliloiis, Bodd. Lampongs. 
Pelargopsis fraseri, Sharpe. Lampongs. Palembang. 
Alcedo euryzona, Shaw. Lampongs. 
meninting, Horsf. Lampongs. 
bengalensis, Gm. Lampongs. 
Ccyx rufidorsa, Less. Lampong-. Palembang. 
Megalaenia versicolor, Ruffles. Lampongs. 
SLunthoiamia rosea, Dumont. Lampongs. 

hsemacephala, Mall. Lampongs. 

duvancelli, Less. Lampongs. 
Calorampbns hayi, Gray. Padang. 
Psilopogim pyroiophus, Mull. Palembang. 
Hydrocissa albirostris, Shaw. Lampongs. 
Authracocerus malayauus, Raffles. Lampongs. 

c mvexus, Temm. Lampongs. 
Anorbinus galeritus, Temm. Lampongs. 
Rbytidocerus undulatus, Shaw. Lampongs. 

subrufficollis, Blyth. Palembang. 
Buceros rhinoceros, L. Palembang. Lampongs 
Corone macrorhynclia, Wagl. 

enca, Horsf. 
Dendrocitta occipitalis, Mull. 
Crypsirbina varians, Lath. 
Cissa chinensis, Bodd, var. minor, Cab. 
Platysmurus leucopterus, Temm. 
Uriolus macnlatus, Vieill. Palembang. 
xanthonotiis, Horsf. Palembang 
crnentus, Wagl. 
Dicrurus annectens, Hodgs. Palembang. 

sumatranus, IK. Rams. 
Cbaptia malayensis, Blyth. 
Buchanga ciner.ieca, Horsf. 
lihringa rcsmifer, Temm. 
Dissemurus paradkeus, L. 
Irena criniger, Sharpe. Palembang. 
Tcphrodornis gularis, Raffl. 
Hemipns intermedins, Salv. Padang. 

obscurus, Horsf. 
Platylopbus coronatus, Raffl. Lampongs. 
Cochoa beccarii, Salead. 
Artamides sumatrentds, MM. 
Grancalus melanocephalns, Sulvad. Padang. 
rcricrocotus xantbogaster, Raffl. Palembang. 

montanus, Salead. 

cinereus, Lafr. 

peregrinus, L. 
Lalagc terat, Bodd. 

limbriata, Temm.. var. culminata, Hay. 
Alseonax laticostris, Kaffl. 
Poliomyias luteola, Pall. Palembang. 
Muscicapula byperytbra, Blyth. 

maculata. 
Xanthopygia cyanomelscna, Temm 
Hypothymis azurea, Bodd. 

occipitalis, Yij. 



IN SUMATRA. 271 



Rbipidura javanica, Sparrm. 
perlata, Mull. 
albicollis, Vieill. 
salvaclorii, Sharp.". 
Terpsipbone affinis, Blyth. 
incii, Gould. 
. Pbilentoma pyrrbopterum, Temm. 
velatum, Temm. 
Rhinomyias pe3toralis, Salvad. 
Culicicapa ceylonensis, Swains. Palembang. 
Stoparola ruficrissa, Salvad. Padang. 
concreta, Midi. 
tbalassinoides, Saload. 
Sipbia elegans, Temm. Lampongs. Palembang. 

sumatiensis, Sharpe. 
Digenea solitaria, Mull. Padang. 
Niltava gramlis, Blyth. Padang. 
Pbylloscopus bnrealis, Bias. 

viridipennis, Blyth. 
Luscink>la fuliginiventiis, Hodgs. 
Gleoclclila sibirica, Pall. 
Turdus cabauisi, Bp. 
iEgitbiua viridissima, Bp. 

tipbia, L. var. viridis, Bp. 

var. scapularis, Horsf. 
Cbloropsis viridis, Horsf. 

zosterops, Vigors. 
media, Bp. 
icterocepbala, Less. 
cyanopogon, Temm. 
venusta, Bp. 
Homixus einereus, Blyth. 

malaecensis, Myth. 
sumatranus, Wardl. Earns. 
Iole olivacea, Blyth. 
Pinarocicbla euptilosa, Jard. & Selb. 
Micropus melanocepbalus, Gra. 
Criniger phasorephalus, Uartl. 

gutturalis, Bp. 
Tricbolestes criniger, Blyth. 
Trachycomus ochrocephalus, Gm. 
Pycnonotus bimaculatus, Horsf. 
aualis, Horsf. 
plumosus, Blyth. 
simplex, Less. 
salvadoiii, Sharpe. 
leucogranimicus, Mill. 
tygus, Bp. 
Rubigula dispar, Horsf. 

cyaniventris, Blyth. 
squamata, Temm. 
webberi, Hume. 
Irena crinigera, Sharpe. 
Pnoepyga pusilla, Hodgs. 
Orthotonus atrigularis, Temm. Lampongs. 

cineraceous, Blyth. Lampongs. Palembang 
ruficeps, Less. Lampongs. 
sepium, Horsf. 
Phyllergates cucullatus, Temm. Palembang. 
Hydroeicbla ruflcapilla. Temm. Lampongs. 
frontalis, Blyth. Lampongs. 
rclatus Temm Palembang. 



272 J NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Eupetes macrocercus, Temm. 

Sibia simillima, Salvad. Palembang. 
Garrulax bicolor, Hartt. Palembang. 

palliatus, Temm. Palembdng. Padang. 
Melanocichla lugubris, Mull. Padang. 
Rhinock-hla mitrata, S. Mull. Larupongs. Palembang. 
Stachyris larvata, Bp. Palembang. 

poliocephala, Temm. Palembang. 
nigricollis, Temm. 

thoracica, Temm. ^ 

macnlata, Temm. 
Turdinus magnirostris, Moore. 

loricatus, Mull. Padang. 
rufipectus, Salo. Padang. 
Erytbrocicbla bicolor, Less. Palembang, 
Drymoratapbus nigricapitatus, Eyton. Lampongs. 
Trichostoma rostratum, Blylh. 
Myiopboneus dicrorhynclms, Salvad. Palembang. Padang. 

melanurus, Salvad. Lampongs. Palembang. Padang. 

eastaneus, Wardl. Rams. Padang. 
Bracliypteryx buxtoui, Tweed. Lampongs. 

flaviventris, Salvad. Padang. 

umbratilis, Strickl. Palembang. 

saturatus, Salvad. Palembang. 
Copsyclius musicus, Raffl. Lampongs. 
Cittocincla tricolor, Vieill, var. suavis Sel. Lampongs. 
Suya albigularis, Hume. Palembang. 
Prinia familiaris, Horsf. Lampongs. 
Bumesia flaviventris, Deless. Lampongs. Padang. 
Malacopterum magnum, Eyt. Palembang. Lampongs. 

cinereum, Eyt. Palembang. 

lepidocephalum, Gr. 

affine, Blyth. Palembang. 
Mixornis gularis, Raffl. Palembang. 

erytbroptera, Blyth. Lampongs. Palembang. 
Macronus ptilosus, Jard. & Selb. Lampongs. Palembang. 
Anuropsis malaccensis, Hartl. Palembang. 
Turdinulus murinus, Blyth. 
Eimator albostriatus, Salvad. 
Staehyridopsis assimilis, Wald. Palembang. 
Mesia lauiinse, Salvad. Padang. 
Parus sultaneus, Hodgs. 

cinereus, Bonn. & Vieill. 
Ptererythrius asralatus, Ticl:ell,\av. cameranoi, Salvad. Padang. 
Pacbycepbala grisola, Blyth. 

bruneicauda, Salvad. 
Lanius tigrinus, Drapiez. Palembang. 

bentet, Horsf. Padang. 
Sitta frontalis, Horsf. 
Chalcostetba insignis, Temm. 
uEtbopyga temmincki, Mull. 

siparaja, Raffl. 
Cinnyris hasselti, Temm. Bencoolon. Palembang. 

pectoralis, Horsf. Palembang. 
Aracbnotliera crassirostris, Reich. 

longirostris, Lath. Palembang. 

affiuis,. Horsf. Palembang. 

clirysogenys, Temm. Bencoolen. 

flaviventris, Gadow. 
Anthotlireptes bypogrammica, Mull. 

simplex, Mull. 

pbtenicotis, Temm. Palembang, 



IN SUMATRA. 273 



Anthotkreptes malaccensis, Scop. Palembang. Bancoolen. 
Zosterops aureiventer, Hume. Lampongs. 

chlorates, Hartl. Palembang. 

atricapilla, Sabad. Padang. 

flava, Horsf. 

fallax. Sharpe. 

fngida, Mull. 
Dicamrn flammeum, Sparm. Lampongs. 
olivaceum, Wald. Lampongs 
trigonostigtna, Scop. Lampong;. 
Pitta boschii, Mull. & bchl. Lampongo. 
muelleri, Horsf. Lampongs. 
veausta. Mull. Palembang. 
Calobatcs melanope, Fallas. Lampongs. 
Budytes viridis, Gm. Lampongs. 
Antlius rut'ulns, V. 
Hirundo javanica, Sparm. 

Cymborbyncbus maerorhynchus, Gm. Lampongs. 
Calyptomcna viridis, Baffles. Lampongs. 
Eurlyamius ochromelas, Iiaffl. 
javanicus, Horsf. 
Coryilon sumatranus, Baffles. Lampongs. 
Calornis clialybea, Horsf. Lampongs. 
Sturnopaster contra, L. Lampongs. 
Gracula javanensis, Osh. Lampongs. 
Artamus lencogaster, Vol. Lampongs. 
Analcipus cruentus, Wogl. Padaug. 
Padda oiizivora, L. Lampongs. 
Mania maja, L. Lampongs. 

puuctularia, L. Palembang. 
leucogastroides, Moore. Lampongs. 
atricapilla, V. Palembang. 
Plocens maculatus, Mull. Lampongs. 
Erythrura prasina, Sparm. Lampongs. 
Treron nipalensis, Hodas. Lampongs. 
Butreron eapellei, Temm. Lampongs. 
iSphenocercus oxyuru*, Ileinw. 
Osmotreron vemans, L. Lampongs. Padang. 

olax, Temm. Lampongs. 
Spilopelia tigrina, Temm. Lampongs. 
Geopelia striata, L. La.ipon.us. 
Chalcophaps indica, L. Lampongs. 
Carpophaga badia, Iiaffl. Lampongs. 

senea, L. Lampongs. Palembang. Padang. 
Macropygi i leptogrammica, Temm. 
Ary;usianus ar<;us, L. Lampongs. Palembang. 
Polyplectron cbalcurum, T. Palembang. 
Euplocomus vieilloti, Gray. Padang. 
Acomus inornatus, Salvad. Padang. 
Gallus ferrugineus, Gm. Palembang. 
Rhizotbera lungirostris, Temm. 
Arborophila personata, Horsf. Palembang. 
Peloperdix rubrirostris, Salvad. Padang. 
Exealfactoria chineusis, L. Palembang. 
Kollulus rouloul, -Scop. Lampongs. Palembang. 
Calopeidix oculea, Temm. Palembang. 
Turnix pugnax, Temm. Padang. 
Cbaradrius fulvus, Gm. Lampongs. 
iEgialitis geoffroyi, Wagl. Lampongs. 
Glareola orientalis. Leach. Lampongs. 
Ardea purpurea, L. 
Herodias intermedia, Hasselt. Palembang 



274 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Demigretta sacra, Gm. Lampongs. 
Bubulcus coromandus, Bodd. Palembang, Padanj 
Ardetta cinnamomea. Gm. Padang. 
Butorides javanica, Horsf. Paiembaug. 
Leptoptilus javanicus, Horsf. Palenibang. 
Tantalus lacteus, Temm. Palembang. 
Totanus glareola, L. Lampongs. 
Tringoides hypoleucus, L. Lampongs. 
Scolopax rusticola, L. 

Ehynchsea capensis, L. Padang. Palembang. 
Hypotamidia striata, L. Palembang. Padang. 
Erytbra phcenicura, Forst. Lt.mpongs. 
Dendrocygna arcuata, Honf. 
Sterna media, Horsf. 
Lergii, Licht. 



III.— ADDITIONS TO THE INSECT FAUNA OF SUMATRA. 

Descriptions of Lepidotera discovered by the Author in Sumit^a. 

The descriptions of species under Mr. Smith's or Mr. Butler's name, liaxe 
been kindly prepared by them for me. 

Nymphalidg. 

Trepsichrois van-deventeri, mihi, sp. noy. — Intermediate between T. 
mulciber of Borneo and T. linnei ; differs from the former in the slightly 
larger spots on fore-wirigs of male, and in the well-defined 'whiter mark- 
ings in the female — in T. mulciber they are brownish; from T. linnei it 
differs in its smaller size, less angulated fore-wings, smaller spots on 
these wings in both sexes and much narrower streaks on hind-wings of 
female; it occurs in Sumatra, Malacca, and Cachar (Assam). Lampongs, 
No. 99. This species is named in honour of Mr. Justice Van Deventer. 
of the Dutch-Indian Bench. 

Kallima spiridiva, Smith, sp. nov. — Upper side : anterior wing, uniform 
dark brown, almost black, crossed from the centre of the costa to the 
inner angle by a broad band of pale blue, in which between the first and 
second median nerYures is a small Yitreous spot ; a small white spot near 
the apex, which is not falcate, as in paralecta and other species of this 
genus. Posterior wings with an irregular, almost obsolete, sub-marginal 
black line. Both wings with a slight purple gloss. Under side : with 
markings and spots resembling paralecta, but the colouring is subject to 
variation, as of the two examples I have, one is rich brown, and the 
other olive-green. Expansion, 3^ inches. This species is about the same 
size as K. albofasciata, but is distinct from it as well as from paralecta. 
Sumatra. Type in Mus. H. G. Smith, Esq. 

Cethosia Carolina-, mihi, sp. nov. — Differs from the C. menalis in having 
the transverse black lines more uniform in width, and the white patch 
at centre of external area of fore-wings of little more than half the width ; 
the sub-apical white spots are also smaller, and the orange patch at anal 
angle of hind-wings is considerably larger. Sumatra. Hoodjoong, 
Palembang Residency. No. 215. I have named this species in recog- 
nition of the kindness of my sister-in-law, Miss G. Keith, who aided rne 
greatly in the preparation of my MS. for the printers. 

Cyrestes irmx, mihi, sp. nov.— Intermediate between C. meihypsea and 



IN SUMATRA. 275 



C. penthesilia ; fore-wings with the markings of the latter species, hind- 
wings most like methypsea, but with a broader external black margin ; 
under side similar to that species, but with the white marginal line more' 
deeply scalloped and better marked, and the pale markings generally 
whiter. Sumatra. Palembang Residency. No. 413. Named in honour 
of the wife and elder daughter of Surgeon Julius Machik, of the Dutch- 
Indian army. 

PAriLIONID.E. 

Ixias fiavipennis, Smith, sp. nov. — Upper side: both wings orange- 
yellow; from the base, extended over about two-thirds of the wings, 
shaded with gray, the nervures and remainder of the wings dark brown. 
Under side: both wings yellow, mottled with brown; anterior wing, 
with a black spot at the end of the cell, and an irregular sub-marginal 
row of brown spots confluent, extending from the costa to the inner 
angle ; posterior wing with a sub-marginal row of brown spots com- 
mencing on the costa between the nervures and extending to the third 
median nervulc, and a black spot on the first disco-cellular nervule. 
Expansion, 2J inches. Hab., Mount Dempo, 4C00 feet. Type in Mus. 
H. G. Smith, Esq. 

Amnosia eudamia $ , Smith, sp. nov. — Upper side: both wings brown ; 
anterior wings crossed from the centre of the costa to the inner angle by 
a broad brownish-white band, beyond the band the wings are darker 
brown ; posterior wings, with a sub-marginal row of five spots (smaller 
than in decora $ ), outside of which are two irregular dark brown lines, 
and inside one dark line. Under side : both wings lighter brown than on 
the upper side, with similar markings to decora, of which it may be a 
variety, but it differs from the female decora in the lighter shade of the 
bVown on the upper side of the wings, in the colour of the band on the 
anterior wings, in the size of the spots on the posterior wings, and on the 
under side in the absence of the three spots within the cell of the posterior 
wing, and of the first of the four sub-apical spots on the anterior wing of 
decora, and, in addition, it is somewhat larger. Expansion, 3t inches 
Hab., Sumatra. Type in Mus. H. G. Smith, Esq. 

Paplllo furhesl, Smith, Ento. Month. Mag. p. 234 (1882-83).— Upper 
side : dark brown, almost black, the margins between the nervures with 
lunular white spots, very narrow on anterior wing, much broader on 
posterior wing, which is without tails ; anterior wings with longitudinal 
rays on each side of the nervures of light brown, extending from the 
middle to the exterior margin; posterior wing with a row of three 
brownish-gray lunular spots between the median nervules, and a spot 
at the anal angle, above which is a row of three small faintly-marked 
spots of same colour. Under side : anterior wings rayed as above, but 
paler; posterior wing with a longitudinal red spot at the base, divided 
by the precostal nervure, which is black, and a small red spot lie low the 
costal nervure ; a broad band of ochreous yellow, with a row of black spots 
in the middle, extending across the wing between the median nervules. 
and a small spot of ochreous yellow beyond ; a black spot at the top of 
the band next the anal angle, three blue spots near the exterior margin, 
from the costal nervure to the median nervule. Expansion, 4 inches. 
Hab. Banding Agong, Sumatra. This species belongs to the Memnon 
group, in which, however, there is nothing which resembles it. Typo m 
Mus. H. G. Smith, Esq. 

P.apilio albolineatus, mihi, sp. nov— Allied to P. saiurnus, Guer. 
(nephelus, De Haan); differs from that species in the greater width of 



276 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



the sub-apical creamy-white band on the fore-wing (the five spots of 
which it is formed being considerably longer), in having an additional 
spot of the same colour at the apex of the cell, and two small, pale 
ochreous spots on the hind margin. The hind wings have the discal 
creamy-white patch straight on its inner edge, and continued to the 
abdominal margin by two additional pale ochreous spots ; the marginal 
spots of both wings are also more strongly marked. The under side 
differs in having the white markings generally more extended, and the 
additional spot m the cell of the fore-wings as on the upper side. Hab. 
Borneo. In col. Brit, Museum. 

In comparing an example of Papilio mturnus taken in Sumatra with 
the specimens in the British Museum, I found this nearly-related species 
unnamed in the collection, which the authorities have kindly permitted 
me to describe here. 

Papilio itam-puti, Butler, sp. nov. — Allied to P. alcibiades. but the 
black markings on the primaries much broader, the fourth band forming 
an acute triangle ; the external black border, occupying nearly a third 
of the wing not completely divided by the green band (which is narrower 
than in P. alcibiades), its inner edge sub-sigmoidal ; this border terminates 
just below the first median branches, not at the external angle as in P. 
alcibiades ; the secondaries have slightly longer tails, and the externo- 
anal area is greenish-gray, with black outer margin, and two black bars 
near the extremity of the median interspaces ; on the under surface, in 
addition to the differences noted above, the outer half of the discoidal cell 
of the primaries is ochre-yellow, and the external half of the secondaries 
is uniformly instead of partially ochreous. Ixpanse of wings, 77 rnillim. 
Lampongs. In col. Brit. Musuem. 

Description of a new Longicokn Coleopteron. 

By Charles 0. Watei>eouse, F.Z.S. 

Lamiidjs. 

Megacriodes forbesii. 

From the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for May, 1881, and 
figured in Janson's Aids to the Identification of Insects. 

Niger, nitidus, pube snbtilissima cinerea indutus ; thoracis disco macula oculata 
crocea ornato ; elytris basi ot sub lmmeros crebre granulosis, plagis tex albis 
ornatis. Long. 22 lin. 

Near to M. Saundersii, Pascoe (Trans. Ent. Soc. 3rd ser. iii. p. 272, 1866 ) ; 
but, judging from the figure (pi. xii. fig. 1), it is a more robust species. 
It differs chiefly in having the base of the elytra and all the humeral 
region thickly studded with shining granules. The scutellum is yellow. 
Each elytron has three patches of white pubescence (which were doubt- 
less yellow when the insect was alive)— the first and second placed as in 
M. Saundersii, but very irregular in form ; the third very elongate, and as 
if formed of the two apical spots of N. Saundersii. The underside is 
clothed with yellowish-grey pile, with a broad stripe along the side from 
behind the eye to the apical segment of the abdomen ; this stripe is part 
yellow and part white ; it was probably yellow when the specimen was 
alive. 

Hub. Lampongs, Sumatra (//. 0. Forbes). Brit. Museum Coll. 



IN SUMATRA. 277 



New Rhynchota. By W. L. Distant, F.L.S. 

(From the Ento. Month. Mag. xix. pp. 156-160.) 

The following descriptions refer to species which I have received 
during the last few years iu collections made by Mr. Forbes. Our 
present information as to the Rhynchota of Sumatra is greatly due to 
Snellen van Vollenhoven, whose studies, however, did i ot extend to the 
Coreidx of this island ; to Ellenrieder, who alone treated of the Rentato- 
midse ; to various descriptions by the late Dr. Stal; and the same, in a 
much less satisfactory sense, of the late Mr. Walker. It will he thus seen 
that at present our catalogues and collections of Sumatran Rhynchota are 
of the most meagre and superficial character though we may reasonably 
hope that this comparative ignorance will soon be greatly modified by the 
publication of the natural history section of the late Dutch Fxpedition 
into Central Sumatra. [This work has now been completed, and contains 
descriptions of many species new to science. H. 0. F.] 

HemiptepiA-Heteroptera. 

Pentatomid^;. 

Canthecona cognata, n. sp.,* allied to G. javanica. — Ent. M. Mag., 

p. 157. 
Neosalica n. gen., allied to Piezosternum. Loc. cit. p. 157. 
„ forbesi, n. pp. Loc. cit. p. 157. 

Pyrrhoiorid^:. 

Lohita grandis, Gray, var. Sumatrana. Loc. cit. 15S. 

PiEJJUVIIDiE. 

Ranthous cocaJus, n. sp. allie 1 to P. dxdalus, Stal, and P. nigriceps, 

Reut. Loc. cit. p. 158. 
Panthous talus, n. sp., allied to P. icarus, Stal. Loc. cit. p. 159. 

Hemiptera-Hojioptera. 

CERCOPIDiE. 

Cosmoscartajuno, n. sp., allied to C. viridans, Guer. Loc. cit. p. 160. 

* The descriptions of these species are given iu full at the given pages of the 
work cited. H. 0. F. 



278 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



IV. ADDITIONS TO THE FLORA OF SUMATRA.. 

Description of a new Vaccinium. By William Fawcett, B.Sc, F.L.S. 

Vaccinium Forhesii (sp. nov.). Herb. Forbes, in Mus. Brit., No. 2371. 

Frutex aut arbor ramulis raccmis calycibusque pubescentibus, foliis 
brevi-petiolatisellipticis utrinque obtusis 13 mm. longis racemis margini- 
bus recurvis integris coriaceis glabris subtus runs imbricatis, 38 mm. 
longis terminalibus, floribus breve-pedicellatis, in axillis bracteorum 




TACCIN1UU FORUESII. 



foliis paullo minorum, calyce 3 mm. Ion go lobis tuH longit.udinc 
obtusis, corolla 5-7 mm. longa ovoido-tubulari extus vix pubescente aut 
glabra intus pubescente rubra aut coccinea margimbus albis (H. 0. F.), 
filamontis staminum pilosis, loculis antherarum eUipticis minutissimis 
spinulis tcctis dorso cxamtatis in tubulos breves rectos apice apertos 



IN SUMATRA. 279 



productis; disco epigyno pubescentc extrorsum sinuato; bacca 5 mm. 
longa globoso pubescente purpureo-nigra. 

This species differs from V. buxifolium especially in the bracts being 
like the leaves and not much smaller, and in the anthers being without 
spurs. This beautiful species was collected on Mount Dempo, from 
7500-10,500 feet. In size it varied from a tree four feet in circumference 
to a low shrub. 

[This drawing has been done for me by Mr. E. Morgan, from a camera 
drawing of the author's made from the living plant. H. O. F.] 

Description of a new species of Cyrtanb-re-zg. By H. O. Forbes. 
[Extracted from the Linnean Society's Journal — Botany, vol. xix. p. 297. 

Boea Treubii, Forbes. — Suffruticosa, caule usque ad 3 — 4 pedes alto, 
pallide cinnamomeo-tomentoso : foliis oppositis, breviter petiolatis, 
elongato-lanceolatis, supra giabratis, subtus cinnamomeo-tomentosis ; 
pedunculis multifloris, iu paniculam terminalem abeuntibus ; corolla in 
diam. 0*20— 0"23 metr. purpurascenti-caerulea. 

Folia acuminata, serrulata, undulata ; pctioli connati, basi dilatati, 
caulem amplectentes. Bractea3 inferiores, foliis similes, sed minores. 
Calyx 5-partitus ; laciniis lanceolatis, acuminatis, tomentosis. Corolla 
oblicpie campanulata, tubus calyce brevior ; limbus bilabiatus, lobis 
obovato-rotundatis. Stamina 2 perfecta, corolla multo breviora, 2-3 
rudimentaria ; filamenta arcuata ; antherse magnae, cordato-oblongse, 
reniformes, aurantiacae, apicibus cohserentes, loculis subrectis confluenti- 
bus. Capsula ovoideo-cylindrica, bivalvis, valvis etiam in capsula 
perjuveni sjuraliter dextrorsum tortis, loculicide dehiscens; jriacentse 
membranace?e, 2-fid?e, revoluta3, semina minuta integentes. 

Sumatra, in monte calcareo Karangnata, jirope Napal Litjin, in prov- 
incia Palembang, alt. 1000 ped. 

I found this singularly beautiful and graceful plant in full flower in 
November, 1881, first near the village of Napal Litjin, 580 feet above the 
sea ; but in profusion on the large disrupted calcareous blocks near the 
summit of the peak of Karangnata, in company with magnificent sjnke- 
bearing Caalogynes and pink-fruited Mdastomacese. I am not satisfied 
that BoeaTreubii may not form a new genus; it differs from Boca in its 
large size and entire stigma. The specific name is give in honour of Dr. 
Treub, Director of the Botanic Gardens, Bnitenzorg. 



PART IV. 

IN THE MOLUCCAS AND IN TIMOR-LAUT. 



CHAPTER I. 

FR03I JAVA TO AMBOINA. 

Sojourn in Buitenzorg, Java — Leave for Amboina accompanied by my wife — 
Friends on board — Call at Samarang and Sourabaya in Java— Macassar in 
Celebes — Bima in Sumbawa — Larantuka in Flores — Cupang and Dilly in 
'1'imor — Banda, the island of nutmeg gardens. 

Arriving in Batavia from Sumatra on the 27th of December, 
1881, I was engaged for many weeks in botanical investigations 
in the Laboratory of the Buitenzorg Botanical Gardens, in 
packing up my very large Herbarium, and in making the 
necessary arrangements for my expedition to Timor-laut. 

At the end of March, the future companion of my travels 
arrived from Europe, to whom I was married on the 5th of 
April, and henceforth the record of those wanderings must 
pass from the singular to the plural pronoun, while the ob- 
servations hereunder recorded are those sometimes of the 
one, sometimes of the other of us. 

On the 15th of the month we left Batavia en route for 
Timor-laut via Amboina. On board the steamer there was a 
large complement of passengers, among whom was Major Van 
der Weide, the directing medical officer of the Moluccas, and 
a most charming Portuguese family, that of Major da Franca, 
who was on his way to assume the Governorship of their 
possessions in East-Timor. 

The steamers of the Netherlands India Company circum- 
navigate the Archipelago every month ; and as they often lie 
to as long as a couple of days at the more important islands 
along its southern belt, we had therefore the opportunity of 
forming a slight acquaintance with many interesting places 
and races of men. After a call at the two Javan ports of 
Samarang and Sourabaya, we anchored for several -lays in 



284 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Macassar, the greatest disseminator in these seas of the pro- 
ducts of Western civilisation to the barbarous East. Thence, 
running a day and night's sail southward to the 'island of 
Sumbawa, we touched for a few hours at Biuia. The rest of 
that day and till next afternoon we coasted along the shores 
of the island of Mores, the Land of Mowers of the early 
Portuguese navigators, but a heavy mist concealed from our 
view its wooded features. 

Anchoring at Larantuka at its eastern point, I accompanied 
the captain on shore under a dense rain, and spent an hour 
or two at a lone monastery there, where some eight or nine 
priests were living, who hospitably proffered us the best of 
their cellar. The buildings and grounds were enclosed and 
strongly fenced in by thick hedges of the impenetrable bam- 
boo-durie. With a few people from Java and the surrounding 
islands they were spending their lives in very much like 
useless solitude. The natives were anything but friendly, 
and lived far in the mountains ; but every now and then, the 
priests told me, they made a raid on their establishment, 
shooting a few of their people in the dark and then running 
away. So that it seemed to me that both the priests and 
the nuns (who occupied an adjacent nunnery) might have 
established themselves in a region affording more scope to 
their self-denying labours. The natives I saw were mop- 
haired, with sooty black skins; they wore tri ton-shell arm- 
lets, squeezed on just below the shoulder so tight that I was 
astonished that strangulation of the limb was not the result. 
A pink Periwinkle (Vinca rosea), and the lovely dark blue 
climbing Clitorea ternatensis grew abundantly near the shore 
and in the gardens of the priests. 

From Larantuka passing southward through the Mores 
straits we made for Cupang in the west of Timor — a bright 
clean, neatly laid-out town at the base of a range of abrupt 
hills, with a considerable Dutch population living in sub- 
stantial houses. On going ashore we were delighted to find 
there an Englishman, Mr. Drysdale, by whom we were most 
hospitably entertained during the day. The natives, tall 
well-made fellows with their hair done up in a large frizzly 
mop, strolled lazily about the streets looking on unconcernedly 
at the tide of civilisation and the eao-cr bustle of trade set 



IN THE MOLUCCAS. 



285 



flowing by the arrival of our steamer, as if it was a matter 
in which they had absolutely no interest or concern. They 
wore little clothing beyond a loin-cloth, and a fringed plaid 
— that simplest and most primitive garb of man — about their 
shoulders ; a little bag, heavily ornamented with gold and 
beads, suspended in front by a string round the hips, con- 
tained their betel nut and siri leaves, and tastefully carved 
bamboo tubes full of tobacco. A Borassus palm leaf for an 
umbrella completed their costume and accoutrements, except 
their hats, which, made out of the 
pure white spathe of the Borassus 
palm, really exhibit artistic taste 
of a very high order. Somewhat 
of the shape of the " Devonshire 
Hat," so much worn a few years ago, 
but narrower in proportion, they 
were elaborately ornamented with a 
mass of flowers and plumes really 
wonderfully modelled out of little 
chips of the spathe. Held in the 
hand they were singularly graceful 
ornaments ; but atop of the natives' 
curly mops they had rather a gro- 
tesque appearance. The indigenes 
rarely came down from their own 




SOLOR ORNAMENTATION. 



mountain homes to the 
town, so that very few of the natives I saw crowding the streets 
of Cupang were true Timorese, Mr. Drysdale told me : most 
of them were men from the little island of Solor, and are the 
servants and coolies of the place. 

Trade is carried on by barter, the most prized article of 
exchange being a species of bead, by no means plentiful, called 
by them laJckai, of an ochreous red colour, evidently some sort of 
soft stone. Whence these beads come is quite unknown, and 
no imitation yet made in Birmingham or elsewhere has been 
sufficiently exact to deceive the native to give the price of the 
true article for its counterfeit— a small string of eight or nine 
inches long costing over £12. 

Another night's sail brought us to Dilly, the capital of the 
Portuguese territory in the east half of the island. Here we 
lost our genial companions, the Governor and his family, who 
20 



286 A NATURALIST'S WANDEBINGS 



landed under a salute from the fort, and with a great show 
of ceremony. Landing later in the day, we perambulated the 
town, which wanted much before it could be termed neat or 
clean or other than dilapidated, but when we afterwards 
came to know how terribly insalubrious it is, we were sur- 
prised that the incessant fever and languor which made life on 
the lowlands an absolute burden left a particle of energy in 
anybody to care for anything. The supreme evil of Dilly is 
its having been built on a low morass, when it might have 
stood far more salubriously on the easily accessible slopes 
close behind it. Before leaving we received from the Governor 
a most cordial invitation to visit them again, and the generous 
offer of what assistance I might want, should I have a mind 
to travel in the interior of the island. 

A sail of two nights- and a day brought us to Banda. 
Coining on deck, before breakfast, we found ourselves slowly 
steaming in through a narrow winding entrance between 
thickly foliaged cliffs,, which seemed, after giving us passage, 
to glide together and enclose us within a deep blue inland lake 
without entrance or exit. It was the most lovely spot we had 
yet visited. Fronting us as the steamer warped itself to the 
jetty, lay the town as a cluster of white houses, built along 
the low, narrow foreshore,, overshadowed on all sides by steep 
heights densely wooded with bright green vegetation ; from 
an elevated plateau, a battlemented fort overlooked us, the 
scarlet of its Dutch ensign floating- in the wind with a 
bright gleam of colour ; behind us, across the harbour, rose, 
from the water's bayleted edge, the high symmetrical islet 
cone of the Gunung Api, its base and flanks green with trees, 
amid whose- shade a white dwelling here and there peeped 
out, peacefully reposing, careless of the internal fires that 
blistered the smouldering summit of the mountain. 

We walked through the town and viewed at Bin Saleh's 
many native-made Paradise and thousands of other gay New 
Guinea birds' skins, ready for dispatch to the Paris markets. 
Two skins of the 8eleueid.es alba and Diphyllodes respublica 
were all that were worth purchasing. We were charmed with 
its clean aspect, its green parks with gravelled walks, and 
pretty dwellings. Wandering up the heights by a path over- 
grown with lycopods and ferns, we presently found ourselves 



IN THE MOLUCCAS. 



287 




under a delightfully shady canopy of tall Kanary trees, 
and among the groves of Nutmeg of which Banda is the 
famous garden. Quite a picturesque object in the wood was 
a boy busy gathering the fruit into a neat creel, with a 
jointed pole like a fishing-rod, nipping off the stalk of the 
ripe nuts by two claw-like prongs with which the tip of his 
rod was armed, when they dropped into a little basket-like 
cage worked to the stem a few inches below. He came 
and showed us his basketful of beautiful fruit 
— in its pale yellow shell, half of which is left 
on, in which was nestling the dark brown nut 
embroidered with its deep lake mace. This fruit 
is the favourite food of the large pigeons (Carpo- 
phaga concinna) whose low booming note was one 
of the few bird sounds that broke the stillness of 
the woods. I shot, however, a lovely green dove 
(Ptflopus diadematus) and a little White-eye (Zos- 
terops chloris), and noticed traces of the Cassowaries 
that have been introduced from New Guinea, which 
are said to be now breeding there. 

Farther on we came on one of the plantation- 
houses, where a large number of men and women 
were peeling the mace, drying it in the sun, and 
packing both in boxes. These cases are all made 
of one size, carefully finished and caulked, and 
form as delightful an article of cargo as could 
be wished. None but a trade de luxe would befit 
an island so ornate and so wonderfully situated as lecting 

. , . KOD. 

Banda. Its produce, grown in beautiful bowers, is 
gathered up round its umbrageous bayleted shores in long 
gaudily-painted praus, which are constantly darting about 
propelled by lithe rowers, who, as is their custom, synchron- 
ously plunge and flash out their paddles in the sun to a 
buoyant merry tune, and in whose preparation or shipment 
not one hand-soiling operation is required ; its atmosphere is 
charged with aromatic exhalations ; its wharfs and streets are 
the picture of tidiness, and the very water that laps its coral 
shores is brighter and purer than almost anywhere else in the 
world. 

A night's slow steaming brought us to Amboina. 



St'TJIEfi-GATII- 



288 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



CHAPTER II. 

AMBOINA. 

Amboina — Keception by Mr. Resident liiedel — Delay — Visit interior of 
Amboina — Paso — Move to Wai — The people there — The flora and fauna — 
Return to Amboina. 

On landing in Amboina, I sent my letters of introduction 
from the Government to Mr. Resident Rieclel, and later in the 
day we reported our arrival in person at his house. My letters 
recommended me officially to him for whatever information 
he could give us in regard to Timor-laut ; and in that liberal 
spirit in which all travellers in the Archipelago are treated 
by the Dutch Government, I had been granted the privilege 
also of using the voyages thither of the Government's marine 
gunboat, which the authorities in Batavia expected would be 
leaving Amboina for the Tenimber Islands shortly after our 
arrival there. To our surprise, Mr. Riedel's bearing towards 
us was not at all friendly, and beyond the simple item that 
the Tagal had just returned thence, we obtained no further 
information as to its movements or intelligence from him about 
Timor-laut. 

Taking leave of the Resident very disappointed, as I had 
relied much on the information that could have been given us, 
we set about searching for some shelter for the night. Know- 
ing no one in a town where there is neither hotel nor " Rooms 
to be let" for chance travellers, we returned at sundown 
unsuccessful on board the steamer which fortunately had not 
sailed. Resuming our search next morning, we happily at 
nightfall met with the Captain of the Chinese, who, with the 
utmost kindness, placed a newly-built house of his at our 
disposal, and made it habitable for us. 

Our first impressions of Amboina, therefore, were by no 



IN THE MOLUCCAS. 289 



means prepossessing; they would have been brighter could 
Ave have foreseen that, ere we left it, we were to make many 
delightful friends, whose kindness and hospitality would fix it 
in our remembrance as one of the most pleasant of towns to 
reside in. 

Our only means now of reaching the Tenimber Islands was 
by the Netherlands tri-monthly steamer, due on the 18th of 
June, which had lately begun to run to New Guinea, touching 
at Serah and Larat, both islets of the Timor-laut group, where 
the Government had just then placed Postholders (civil offi- 
cials of subordinate rank) charged with the initiatory work of 
these new colonies. 

To a naturalist with a spare week or two at his disposal, 
few islands can offer so acceptable a retreat as Amboina. To 
spend the time as profitably as possible, therefore, we decided 
to move a little distance into the interior. 

May 14th. Breathless Sunday morning. Started for Paso, 
a little village situated at the top of the Bay of Amboina, on 
the narrow isthmus — only a few hundred yards broad — that 
connects the southern or Leitimor with the northern (called 
Hitu) portion of the island. It was a disappointment to us 
that a ripple on the water quite prevented our getting a glimpse 
of those fairy Gardens of the Sea to be seen here, which have 
been so graphically described by Mr. Wallace. Jutting out from 
the land along the shores of the bay were the curious Seros or 
native fish-maises, in which a double line of close bamboo pali- 
sades, reaching above the level of the water, enclosed a lane, 
which extended shorewards from its seaward entrance a little 
way beyond low-water mark, and doubling back terminated in 
deep water in a circular well, where the fish that had entered 
during high tide, and whose escape had been prevented by the 
ebb, were enclosed and captured from a trap door in a little 
platform erected over it. 

As we skirted along the shore, the sound of sacred music 
floated out to us over the water from one of the little villages 
in solemn and impressive cadence. We landed for a little 
to look at the church whence it issued — the people here being 
all " Orang Sirani," or Christians.* The congregation was 
just dispersing, and we were surprised at the neatness of their 
* Or " Nazarenes." 



290 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



attire ; the men in badjos (a sort of blouse) and trousers of 
black glazed ealico, and the women in black sarongs (petticoat) 
and kabaias (a loose tunic with sleeves). Their demeanour was 
becomingly grave and solemn, like their dress. The parson, 
however, looked an odd figure in a white tie, a European 
dress-coat never made for him, black pants of uncertain age, 
and a tall narrow-rimmed beaver hat. Their church was fitted 
up like a Dutch or a Scottish country kirk, and had been 
entirely erected by the villagers, who, according to custom, 
each contributed their share of its cost in labour or material. 

On arrival at Paso, we found the Kajah (the chief of the 
village, an official appointed by the Government without any 
territorial possession) preparing to leave for a week to attend 
some great native festival in a neighbouring village, but he 
has kindly offered us a room in his house. He remembers Mr. 
Wallace, who visited Paso in the time of his father (who was 
also Rajah), Beccari, Macleay, and the officers of the Challenger, 
who had all occupied his house, he informs us. 

May loth. The Eajah, and a great part of the villagers with 
him, left this forenoon. The last thing done before starting 
was to rake and tidy the space in front of the church, " for if 
proper respect were not paid to Tuan Allah, perhaps some mis- 
fortune might befall one or other of the praus." The final 
start for the boats was made from the church door. Their 
belief in the avenging nature of the deity is very strong. 

A Strobilanthes hedge-girt path in front of the Rajah's 
house leads straight to the Bay of Baguala, along the isthmus, 
which is nothing but a sandbank recently raised from the sea. 

Along the S.E. shore of Leytimor I observe precipitous 
cliffs of coral from 200 to 300 feet in height in situ, indicating 
a considerable amount of elevation. The Bay of Baguala is at 
this season very calm, but a month hence the natives say the 
monsoon will have changed, and it will be difficult for boats to 
come in. Now, however, the scene is a very lively one at all 
hours of the day, for the traders bringing sago-meal, fish and 
fruits from Ceram, Saparua, Nusa-lau and the KE. shores of 
Amboina are hurrying before the change of weather to bring 
over their produce to Amboina, and get back again with their 
exchanges. On arriving in the Baguala Bay their boats have 
to be all unloaded, and dragged over the narrow isthmus into a 



IN THE MOLUCCAS. 291 



creek of the Amboina Bay, which at high water is only a few 
yards distant ; and as the constant unpacking and repacking is 
accompanied by shouting and singing to the beating of a tom- 
tom, without which no work can be done here as it times them 
to concerted action, Paso is anything but dull. 

May 21. Lopes and Peter as usual out hunting for birds, 
while I went to the forest to botaniss ; Anna labelling the 
insects and birds at home. The fine Ornithoptera, the Kupu- 
Kupu rajah or royal butterflies, for which this island is 
famous, are very difficult to catch, as they fly at so great a 
height ; nevertheless the large green 0. prijmus, and 0. remits, 
have been obtained feeding on the Cerbera lactaria and C. 
odallam. I have on several occasions found the bodiless wings 
of the priamus in the forest paths, as if it had been attacked by 
birds, the body devoured and the wings dropped. Nowhere 
have I seen insect life — especially beetles — so abundant, or of 
greater variety and beauty, as here ; one of the less rare 
species is the grand Sagueir (palm-wine) feeding-beetle, 
Euchirus longimanus, figured by Mr. Wallace in his Malay 
Arehipelago, which perish in thousands every year by 
dropping, generally during the night, into the palm-wine 
collecting buckets whence they cannot escape. 

Coming as I have done from the Indo-Malayan part of the 
Archipelago the new character of the fauna has greatly pleased 
me. Gay parrots I had counted on seeing ; but the unex- 
pected richness of the plumage of the pigeons has been a special 
delight to us at every return of our hunters. The Marsupial 
species of Cuscus also, of which we have obtained three species, 
have interested us. They are very plentiful, and at this season 
the females all seem to have a little one in their pouch. One 
of these was a tiny creature about two inches long, quite hidden 
in its pouch, fixed by its lips formed into a simple round orifice 
to its mother's teat. They are much eaten by the natives, by 
whom they are caught in nooses set in the trees, or by artifice 
In moonlight nights creeping stealthily to the foot of a tree 
where they have observed one sleeping, taking care not to lift 
their heads so that the light flash in their eyes, they imitate at 
short intervals its cry by placing the fingers in the nose ; the 
Cuscus descends and is fallen on by the -watchers below. The 
python is their greatest enemy, and devours large nu ibers of 



292 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



them as they cling to the branches during the day in a semi- 
torpid condition. 

Heavy rain fell for several hours this afternoon, and 
suddenly set a patch of forest near the house alive with a loud 
hoarse uproar of tree-frogs, that continued without intermis- 
sion till long after sunset. Last night, as we were falling 
asleep, a colony of a different species, residing in the " atap," 
(thatch) of the rajah's house, set up an irritating, harsh 
croupy bark like a little cur's, repeated every two or three 
seconds till break of day, quite disturbing our rest. I roused 
Lopes several times to beat the thatch, but they would not be 
persuaded to cease croaking. 

May 2-ith. This morning at four o'clock got up and beat a 
vigorous tatoo on the rajah's " bedug" (drum) to assemble the 
rowers who had agreed to row us to Tengah-tengah on our way 
to Wai, and with whom it had taken me the whole of yester- 
day to come to terms as to a boat and its hire. On mustering 
our crew half of them failed to put in an appearance, sending 
word that they did not now wish to go. New men therefore had 
to be found and terms discussed with them ; and even with 
them much time was lost, as during the loading of the boat they 
took every opportunity of slinking off to their homes, whence 
they had to be routed out over and over again. This is an 
exhibition of the Sirani in their true character — at least, the 
side of it they oftenest show, lazy, untruthful, arrogant and 
void of conscience. Having abjured the Mahomedan religion 
for that of the Europeans — in form — and acquired some words 
of their language, they consider themselves quite the equals 
of the Dutch. Their change of religion has done much for 
them, in many ways, as a community, but little for them 
individually. They can be excessively tantalising ; and both 
as traders or servants I find them less honest hearted and 
reliable than their Islamite brethren. 

At length got under weigh at eight o'clock in an " orembai" 
with six rowers, a helmsman, and a man to beat the drum. 
We skirted the northern shore of the Baguala Bay, and landed 
in a little baylet in its promontory, where the village of Tengah- 
tengah lies built up in terraces from the shore. These terraces 
are lined by thick rows of the true Bread-fruit tree (Artocarpas 
iiicisa), whose produce, the rajah tells me, brings in some £400 



IN THE MOLUCCAS. 293 



a year to the village. The people are Mahometans, and their 
language was quite unintelligible to us, being the bahasa negorai 
or the old language of the country, which the Sirani consider 
it beneath them to speak, just as they imagine it derogatory to 
their more elevated position as Sirani to wear the head-cloth 
and Malay sarong. The largest edifice in the village is the 
Baluai, the council room, where the rajah, the priests, and the 
chiefs of the village hold their deliberations. The rajah of 
Paso told me that his Baluai had fallen to ruins, but as the old 
bahasa, which they had quite discarded, might alone be spoken 
in it, they could not rebuild it. The Baluai corresponds very 
nearly with the Balai of Sumatra, and both words have pro- 
bably a Polynesian origin. The manners of the villagers here 
are simpler and far less haughty than those of the Sirani ; but 
they seem poorer and less advanced in civilised ways. 

After some delay, but without any unpleasantness, we ob- 
tained a boat and rowers and started for Wai. From Tengrah- 
tengah we sailed through what might have been a bay in 
Fairyland : the coral gardens beneath our keel, so beautiful 
that we found it difficult to proceed far without bidding our 
rowers to rest on their oars to let us admire each more 
wonderful spot ; around us the white shore line, in front of 
a dark green palm-fringe ; behind us the island of Haruku 
embowered in foliage, and the distant peaks of Ceram. 
When at length we ran our prau on the shore in the mid- 
afternoon in front of the village of Wai, the unreal nature of 
the scene seemed complete, so buried was the place in sleep, — 
not a moving creature was to be seen anywhere on the shore 
or in the village, not a sound of life broke the stillness of its 
tree-shaded " straats," not the bark of a dog, or the note of a 
bird from among the trees, whose branches hung listless in 
the broiling sun. So heavy lay the death-like silence on all 
around that we felt as if we ought not to speak above a 
whisper, or to tread except on tip-toe, as, led by one of our 
boatmen, we slowly made our way to the house of the rajah, 
who, after a time, appeared in his sleeping attire, in a half- 
bewildered and confused state at finding a couple of white 
strangers in his verandah. At last, when he had slowly 
grasped the reason of our unexpected advent, we came to terms 
with him for an unoccupied house of his a few doovs from 



294 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



his own, and it was curious to observe the surprised air of the 
people as they roused themselves to watch our installation. 

Though built of stone in the European style, our new 
abode with its damp sand-floor, is not to be compared for 
comfort with a bamboo pile-hut. It has one splendid acces- 
sory in a large bath-house erected in a secluded spot over 
a stream widened out and enclosed where it issues from the 
base of the Silahutu mountain, and above where the villagers 
are permitted to use it. 

Sunday, May 2Sth. Strolled out together in the early morn- 
ing by the shady paths of the neighbouring forest, and back to 
the village along the bay whose charming view never ceases 
to afford us unmixed delight, and on whose beach the east 
wind, now begun to blow roughly, has been throwing a wealth 
of sponges, hydroids, and shells among which there is always 
something new to us, and where we spend many hours of our 
walks in watching the painted fields of shore crabs (Gelasi- 
mus) with their richly coloured pincer limbs and carapace, 
the restless chattering Flycatchers (Myiayra galeata) and 
the sedate Kingfishers on the Mangroves watching for little 
Crustacea, and those curious fishes (Periojphthahnus) that hop 
along the shore out of the water in such an odd way. 

The village is laid out in rectangular plots fenced in by 
Strobilantlies hedges, in which are set the gated entrances to 
garden-fronted houses. The streets, lined with overarching 
trees, are margined along their water conduits by borders 
of pink crocus-like plants. One of its chief edifices is the 
Greclja, whose grandeur quite overwhelmed us; for it is far 
more elaborately decorated than many a rural parish church 
at home. The area of the building is set with caue-bottomed 
chairs instead of fixed pews ; but on one side, raised a few feet 
above the floor, a large, canopied, elaborately carved and 
richly gilded suite of seats, emblazoned in front with a coat of 
arms (!), is reserved for the rajah and his family. The pulpit 
is also much carved and gilded, and the church altogether is 
tastefully fitted and abundantly lighted with petroleum lamps. 
The services are conducted in High Malay by a European 
missionary, and in his absence by the Guru or native school- 
master, who with moderate regularity instructs the children 
five days a week. Amboinese rajahs keep no state, and wear 



IN THE MOLUCCAS. 295 



no special dress except on Sundays. To-day we had the 
honour of seeing the Potentate of Wai proceed to church in 
state, in his black trousers — which, being rather short, displayed 
a good deal of white cotton stocking — black ' swallow-tail ' 
coat made for a stouter and taller individual than himself, 
probably his father, and a beaver hat, tall and narrow, of an 
ancient pattern, while over his head a youth carried his 
gilded state umbrella. The whole population attended the 
service, all of them in black calico attire ; but their religion 
seems to lie on them like an awesome thraldom. 

June 8th. Began packing up in order to return to Amboina 
in time for the Timor-laut steamer of the 16th. We have had 
a delightful sojourn here notwithstanding the heavy rains that 
set in soon after our arrival, which prevented me much to my 
regret, from reaching the summit of Silahutu. The later hours 
of every afternoon have been looked forward to by us both as 
the most pleasant of the day, when the hunters' spoils were 
displayed to be admired, examined and labelled. Among but- 
terflies we have added a few more of the tine Ornithoptera 
found at Paso, numbers of " Swallow-tails," chief among them 
the deep blue Papilio ulysses, species of Hebomoia and Pieris, 
Char axes euryolus, and many "-Blues"; among beetles we 
have added to our collection many species of all the finest 
families, Longicorns, Bose-chafers, Tiger-beetles and golden 
Buprestidse ; among birds may be mentioned the beautiful 
raquet-tailed Kingfishers of the genus Tanysijptera, which I 
was rather surprised to find in large chattering corrobories in 
the tops of high trees ; Maleos, whose terra-cotta eggs are 
eagerly hunted for by the natives as a table luxury ; Mega- 
lurus amboinensu, an isabelline Beed-warbler found chirping 
among the tall Kus-su grass; bright orange Thick-heads 
(Pachycej)hala), Lories, and among our favourite pigeons num- 
bers of the beaufiful black and cream-white nutmeg-eaters 
(Myristicivora bicolor) of which the little islet of Pulu Pombo, 
lying a few miles off the coast, is a densely populated colum- 
barium. The most interesting of the plants are species of 
Myrmecodia, on which I have been able to continue the observa- 
tions begun at Kosala in Java (see pages 79-82). 

To-day I had a long talk with the rajah and some of the 
people of the neighbouring Mahomedan village, from whom I 



296 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



have somewhat extended the Batumerah Vocabulary given by- 
Mr. Wallace in the appendix to his Malay Archipelago. 

Amboina, June 10th. Yesterday at daybreak left Wai to 
come here. As the state of the monsoon prevented our journey- 
in o- to Paso by boat, we proceeded across the promontory on 
foot, our baggage carried by porters, and A in a palan- 
quin. The road led over numerous small hills, from the top of 
which we got many pretty peeps of Haruku and Ceram, through 
Gum-tree — the famous Kajuput — forest and Kussu-grass fields, 
studded throughout with bright yellow Hibiscus-trees and with 
fragrant Habenaria susannse orchids, while by the path-side grew 
brio-ht Polygalas and delicate pink Sonerilas. The nectaries 
of the Habenaria averaged six inches in length, and though 
containing only a small drop of nectar at the bottom, I believe 
the flowers to be fertilised by a moth with a tongue far shorter 
than six inches. Descending into the Baguala Bay we skirted 
the shore all the way to Paso, where we found we must wait till 
afternoon for the rise of the tide. It was only after hours of 
bargaining and cajoling, and the assistance of the rajah's autho- 
rity, we obtained (long after the tide had sufficiently risen) 
a boat and men to take us down the bay. This unnecessary 
delay did not tend to raise the Amboinese character in our 
estimation, especially as it had turned out a soaking night and 
so dark that we could not see where we were steering ; while, to 
crown all, our boat was a very unsafe " dug-out " with no out- 
riggers, in which we could not dare to beguile a part of the 
way in sleep for fear of capsizing it by an unguarded move- 
ment. Luckily the sea was as smooth as glass, and we kept 
ourselves awake watching the crickling rain and the drip of 
our paddles dancing into phosphorescent drops on the water, 
the luminous zig-zag path that the frightened fishes traced 
in darting from below our keel, and the flashing torches of 
the fishers arranging their Seros. Arriving about midnight 
utterly worn out, we were much annoyed to find the door 
of our old quarters unopened, and none of the preparations 
made which we had sent on Lopes — who was really never to 
be depended on out of our sight — in advance to see to ; we 
pretty truly surmised that he had got " unco happy " among 
his friends and forgotten all about us. After a long wait in the 
rain the key was at last obtained by rousing up our kind old 



IN THE MOLUCCAS. 297 



Chinaman, and our baggage drenched in the rain and in the 
leakage of the boat, at length deposited undercover. Finding 
a boat-sail in one of the rooms, we were glad to throw ourselves 
upon it on the stone floor — a wretched night even for me, 
but worse for my companion, hardly yet inured to roughing it, 
and for whose sake I bitterly grudged such hardship in a town 
so civilised as Amboina 



298 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



CHAPTEE III. 

FROM AMBOINA TO TTMOE-LAUT. 

Leave for Timor-laut- — Saparua — Curious village and atoll of Gessir — New 
Guinea — Aru — Ke — Timor-laut — First impressions — New birds and but- 
terflies — State of siege — Negotiate for a house — Language — Our" barter 
goods. 

JULY 5th. On board the SS. Aniboina. At last, at 5 a.m. " Full 
steam ahead " — for Timor-laut. Since the 10th of last month, 
after completing our stock of beads, knives, and the thousand 
and one knick-nacks bought pretty much on chance in the 
hope of their being good trade, we have been living with all 
our baggage packed and roped, expecting every hour the 
arrival of the New Guinea steamer — a period of intense 
discomfort and unrest. Before its arrival was announced Ave 
had quite concluded that some accident had befallen it. At 
last, however, we are on board, and have already forgotten our 
vexation in the keen satisfaction of being really on our way 
Eastward to the islands where we hope to find so many new 
forms of life. 

Our enforced sojourn in the town was not altogether 
without pleasure. Amboina is one of the most salubrious 
of towns, and is charmingly laid out in arbour-like streets — 
very enjoyable in the evenings — which lead to the beach and 
to the grassy hills on the outskirts along the shores ; while, 
being the head-quarters of a regiment of troops, music was 
discoursed twice a week on the plain in front of the Fort ; 
and, having then no European acquaintances, we had leisure 
to look on at phases of Chinese, Arab, and native life, Avhich, 
standing in the dark, gazing into lamp-lit churches, dwellings, 
shops, and gambling-houses, Ave could unnoticed interest our- 
S3lves in. On the day after the arrival of the JaA*a mail that 
brought us the sad intelligence of the death of Mr. Darwin, 



I Naturalists Wanderings in Qie Eastern Arclupela^o 



To face Page 4> 




Harper «tSro tiers New York. 



IN TIMOR LAUT. 299 



I was delighted to be hailed by Dr. Julius Machik, an old 
friend of mine in the Lampongs of Sumatra, who posted to the 
charge of the Military Hospital, had come with his family to 
reside here. His house was forthwith our constant rendezvous, 
and as he was a keen entomologist and ichthyologist, the rest 
of the time till our departure passed most pleasantly. 

July iith and Gth were spent in touching at Saparua, one of 
the Ceram group, and in lying for a day in our favourite port 
of Banda. Having steamed slowly during the next night 
we anchored in the morning of the 7th at Gessir, a mere 
horseshoe-shaped, eocoanut-fringed coral atoll, picturesquely 
showing its surface above the sea at the east end of Ceram. 
Once one of the most dreaded nests, and the secure hiding- 
place of pirates in these seas, it is now one of the busiest and 
most curious marts in the extreme East — a rich ethnological 
gallery, crowded with representatives and the handiwork of 
every race in the Archipelago, and dotted with Malay, Chinese 
and Buginese dwellings, each built after its own fashion. The 
houses are arranged in quadrangular blocks, each within a 
high fence, opening on to clean, carefully kept streets lighted 
by oil lamps on painted lamp-posts — all fresh as a new 
button. 

It is the rendezvous of the Paradise- and other bird-skin 
collectors from the mainland of New Guinea, from Salwatty, 
Mysore, and Halmaheira, and of the pearl-divers of Aru ; 
hither the tripang, tortoise-shell, beeswax, nutmegs, dammar, 
and other rich produce from a multitude of islands is brought 
to be exchanged with the Malay and Chinese traders, of Macas- 
sar, Singapore and Ternate, for the scarlet, blue, and white 
cottons and calicos of the Dutch and English looms, for the 
yellow-handled hoop-iron knives, which form the universal 
small change of these regions, and for beads, glass-balls, 
knobs of amber, old keys, scraps of iron, and worthless but 
gaudy Brummagem. At certain seasons it is quite a rich 
zoological garden. Here may often be seen in captivity Birds 
of Paradise of species never yet seen alive anywhere else out 
of their own lands, parrots, lories, cockatoos, crowned pigeons, 
cassowaries, tree kangaroos, and other animals which have 
managed to survive a journey thus far, but rarely farther west. 

July 8th. New Guinea! This morning we find ourselves 



300 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



gazing for the first time on the wooded shores of the land 
over which there lies such a halo of romance and mystery. 
It was with the intensest interest that we landed by scram- 
bling up on the curious and shaky platforms which the 
Papuan projects far out into the sea as a foundation for his 
house, over which, on narrow planks of split bamboo and on 
rolling tree-trunks, guarding against falling into the sea 
through the constant vacuities, we made our way to the shore, 
which was but a narrow strip of land a few yards wide in front 
of high and perpendicular cliffs of rock. 

We were surrounded at once by a crowd of tall, erect, 
frizzly-headed, well-disposed men and women, who found us 
most curious objects apparently. It was evident that they 
had but seldom seen white faces, for our colour interested 
them very much. They examined our legs, arms, and faces, 
rubbing them gently and looking at their fingers to see 
whether the colour came off or not ; others, taking off the 
scanty head-cloth they wore, took our hands within its folds in 

a most reverential attitude. A , probably the only white 

lady that has ever trod this northern part, was, however, the 
object of curiosity. After looking at her very intently for some 
time a thought suddenly seemed to strike two of their number, 
who, dashing away towards one of the houses, returned in a 
little leading between them an Albino woman with fair skin 
and yellowish hair, and placing her side by side us, burst into 
a hearty laugh, as much as to say, " We know now why your 
skins are white." 

I observed that their dead were buried in the ground, in a 
mound-shaped grave. One was entirely curtained above and 
round four stakes driven into the ground ; while another was 
surmounted by a skull. 

After touching at Ke and Aru, we bore away south by west, 
and early on the morning of July the loth we sighted the first 
of the Tenimber Islands, lying between 6°35' and 8°25' N. lat. 
and 130°30' and 132° E. longitude; these were the higher 
lands of Molu and Vordate, beyond which the mainland of the 
larger island came into view as a low-lying country trending 
away southwards, presenting to our eyes, fresh from the ma- 
jestic forests of the western regions of the Archipelago, by no 
means a very luxuriant vegetation. 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 301 



When the islands were first discovered and the name Timor- 
laut or Tenimber first applied, I have not been able to discover. 
In Mercator's atlas of 1636, they are represented on a small 
scale in his map of the East Indian Islands. The first informa- 
tion we possess of a reliable kind is by Captain Owen Stanley, 
whose name is perpetuated in that magnificent pile of moun- 
tains in the south-east promontory of New Guinea, whose heights 
no white foot has yet ascended. In his 'Visits to the Islands 
in the Arafura Sea,' in 1 839 (in Stokes' ' Discoveries in Austra- 
lia') he says: " We sailed from Port Essington on March 18, 
1839. .. .Light' airs prevented our clearing the harbour till 
the morning of the 19th, and at 3 p.m. on the 20th we made 
the land of Timor-Iaut. . . . At daylight on the 21st we made 
all sail to the northward . . . and anchored in 11 fathoms, 
sand and coral, three-quarters of a mile from the shore. On 
landing the contrast to the Australian shores [Captain Stanley 
approached from the opposite point of the compass from myself] 
we had so recently sailed from was very striking. We left a 
land covered with the monotonous interminable forest of the 
eucalyptus or gum tree, which from the peculiar structure of 
its leaf affords but little shelter from the tropical sun ; shores 
fringed with impenetrable mangroves, . . . the natives black, 
the lowest in the scale of civilised life. . . . We landed on a 
beach, along which a luxuriant growth of cocoa-nut trees ex- 
tended for more than a mile, under the shade of which were 
sheds neatly constructed of bamboo and thatched with palm- 
leaves, for the reception of their canoes. To our right a hill 
rose to a height of 400 feet covered with brilliant and varied 
vegetation so luxuriant as entirely to conceal the village 
(Oliliet) built on its summit. The natives who thronged the 
beach were of a light tawny colour, mostly fine athletic men 
with an intelligent expression of countenance." 

With the exception of this meagre account we • have no 
farther information regarding Timor-laut for nearly thirty- 
eight years, when a vessel belonging to some Banda traders 
visited the island in 1877, an account of which is given in the 
Journal of the Koyal Geographical Society for 1878 (p. 294), 
under the title of "Voyages of the Steamer Egeron in the 
Indian Archipelago, including the discovery of Egeron Strait 
in the Tenimber or Timor-laut Islands." These voy- \ i s were 
21 



302 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



undertaken chiefly for trade purposes. Mr. Hartog has the 
honour of being the first person to sail through the strait 
separating the north and south islands which bears the name 
of his vessel ; but Captain Owen Stanley was really the first 
to indicate the existence of this strait ; for in his ' Notes of a 
Cruise in the Eastern Archipelago in 1841-2/ which are to 
be found in the Journal of the same Society for 1842 (vol. xii. 
p. 263) he writes : " After leaving Baber, we made the island 
of Sera, on the west coast of Timor-laut, and then stood across 
for Australia. A good harbour is said to exist in the south 
part of Timor-laut, which is separated from the north part ly 
a deep channel. Indeed," he continues, " I feel sure that 
when the island is properly examined, it will be found to 
consist of several islands separated by narrow channels." 

As we drew nearer and nearer we carefully and anxiously 
watched the growing features of our new home. I observed 
that the much indented coast, a low and narrow foreshore 
covered with a thick forest of cocoa-nut trees and dark-green 
mangrove thickets, was fringed in most places with a precipi- 
tous bluff, on which principally the villages, whose houses 
glinted through the vegetation above them, were situated. At 
midday we entered the narrow strait between the mainland 
and the island of Larat, and anchored opposite the village of 
Eitabel. As soon as we had made fast, several boats — the fore- 
most of them rather timidly — put out from both shores, and 
in a few minutes we were surrounded by a little fleet, whose 
occupants scrambled on board, talking and jabbering as only 
Papuans can, affording us an opportunity of forming some 
opinion of those who were to be our friends or foes for the 
next three months. They were powerful athletic fellows, and 
conducted themselves exceedingly well, apparently awed by 
what they saw on board of the marvellous things of civilisa- 
tion. Their sole request was for laru or gin, the most-prized 
by them of all earthly commodities. 

After depositing our baggage, our three servants and our 
two selves on the shore, the Amboina at once hoisted her anchor 
and bore away. We sat down on a chest and watched her 
grow less and less and disappear over the horizon, with feelings 
somewhat of desolation and not without some misgivings, left 
there the sole Europeans among a race of the very worst 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 30< 



reputation and without the possibility of communicating with 
civilisation for at least three months to come. 

We found the Postholder a native of one of the Moluccas 
Islands, left here by the Eesident in the beginning of May, 
fairly well housed ; but he told us he had suffered terribly 
from fever. He was good enough to let us a room, and to 
allow us to store our baggage under the verandah of his house 
till we should obtain one of our own. We then sauntered out 
through the village, which is situated on the foreshore against 
a cliff; the houses resembled those figured in Captain Owen 
Stanley's narrative already referred to. They were arranged 
more or less in irregular streets, with their gables as a rule to 
the sea, to allow of their praus being run up under them, 
though in many cases separate sheds were erected for them. 
All round the village we found a high strong palisade, with a 
portion removable, however, on the shore side in the daytime. 
In attempting to pass out by the landward gateway we were at 
once restrained by several of the villagers following us, who 
pointed to the ground in an excited manner, demonstrating to 
us its surface everywhere set with sharpened bamboo spikes, 
except along a narrow footpath. Their gestures instantly 
opened our eyes, with an unpleasant shock, to the truth that 
we were environed by enemies, and the village was standing 
on its defence. 

Outside the gate we catered under a cocoa-nut forest, among 
ferns (Asplenium, Pteris, and Poly podium), Clerodendrons, low 
Solanums and Malvaeeous shrubs, which grew densely over 
the coral foreshore of the island, in front of the abrupt cliffs, 
along whose sunny bases I saw several butterflies unknown to 
me and new to science ; but — not possessing cuirassed limbs 
which could despise the bayonet crop that overspread tho 
ground, from which in that climate even a slight wound pro- 
duces often tho most serious results— many of them defied our 
deftest attempts to ensnare. The first specimen I netted was 
a new Swallow-tail butterfly (Papilio abcrrans), and the first 
beetle a gorgeous golden Buprestid {Cyplwgastra splendcns). 

Turning in another direction, breaking through gigantic 
maises and walls of spiders' webs, we ascended the bluff of 
which I have spoken, on which grew some Papilionaceous trees 
of considerable height, along with Erythrinas and others I did 



304 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



not know, but in their branches I espied the beautiful scarlet 
Lory (Eos reticulata),which, though it had been long known from 
these islands, I was perhaps the first European to see alive in 
its own country, and certainly the first to shoot there. During 
the same walk we were surprised to hear from a cocoa-nut tree 
near the village a most singular bawling, or caterwauling, 
which I thought must proceed from one of the children at 
play, but which I at last perceived to be produced by a new 
species of Honey-eater (Philemon), whose voice became familiar 
to us as the earliest and the latest sounds of the day. These 
observations raised high hopes in my breast as to what I yet 
might discover, for the species I had seen were almost all new. 

The next sight was less exhilarating — on a tree-clad 
elevation the half-burned and recently deserted village of 
Ridol ; and from the branch of a high tree before us a human 
arm, hacked out by the shoulder-blade dangled in the breeze, 
and at no great distance further were recently-gibbeted human 
heads and limbs. 

A state of war, we found, existed between, on the one hand, 
the villagers of Iiidol burnt out by the Kaleobar people, 
leagued with Waitidal on the north-western corner, which had 
taken them in, and with Ritabel, our village ; and on the 
other hand, those of Kaleobar, one of the largest villages on 
the island situated on the north-eastern corner, which was 
leagued with Kelaan and with Lamdesar, two other Tillages 
on the south-eastern coast. Frequent raids had been made 
recently by these villages on Ritabel, the wife of whose chief 
had recently been picked off from the outside of the palisade 
by a lurking Kaleobar marksman, while many of the villagers 
showed us their recent wounds received in an attack made a 
few weeks before our arrival. The bamboo spikes in the 
ground round the village were set to prevent such clandestine 
approaches. During the day they were removed from the 
paths which led to their fields and wells, and at sunset, when 
the last man had returned to the village, the pathway was 
carefully reset, and the gateway barricaded for the night ; it 
was the duty of the first goer-out in the morning to open 
the gate and remove the spikes. In this affray it was that 
the unfortunates, who owned the dismembered limbs we had 
seen, were captured. These grim mementoes did not inspire 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 305 



•either of us with the most pleasant reflections, but we deter- 
mined to close our eyes on all but the bright side of the 
picture of which we had got a glimpse. 

The villagers seemed perfectly well disposed towards us, 
without fear or suspicion of us. We ventured to look into 
their homes as we returned from our survey, and they beckoned 
us in with a smile. 

Our first care was to obtain a house, and at once on our first 
morning I set about looking for a site. Thoss who know best 
what uncivilised ways are will understand our vexation at the 
difficulties now encountered, the excuses for refusing one spot 
after another, the whole-day palavers abandoned at night 
without result, and day after day for eight days. By a large 
present all round I had the satisfaction of at last cajoling the 
old men into deciding on a site lying within the tide mark, 
which forthwith was occupied before they could change their 
minds. 

During the progress of the building which of necessity 
had to be a pile dwelling, and when my presence and 
actual help were not necessary, we made short excursions to 
the immediate neighbourhood on which we were always 
accompanied by some of the natives, who seemed to take 
the liveliest possible interest in our doings, and with whom 
we mixed as much as we could. Perceiving that I recorded 
their names for everything we encountered, they themselves 
adopted the role of teacher — the young women not less 
than the men — repeating to us the name of every tangible 
object, as well as trying to bring us to a comprehension of 
their expressions for abstract ideas. After some days they 
began regularly to catechise us in past lessons, bringing us 
various objects whose names they had already given us, 
and by signs requiring us to repeat to them their names, 
laughing heartily at us when we made a failure or a mis- 
pronunciation. The buttons on our garments formed ex- 
cellent objects on which to teach us numeration, and many 
a score of times we have had to stand while some Venus- 
formed maiden encountering us in the village insisted on 
hearing us recount their tale again. So assiduous and 
apparently interested in our acquiring their language were 
they, that their willing lessons are to us now one of the most 



300 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



pleasing reminiscences of these simple people. We of course 
very soon began to be able to hold some sort of converse with 
them in their own language, which resembled that spoken by 

the Ke Islanders ; and through A , who had become a great 

favourite with the people, caressed and affectionately patted 
by them in her wanderings about the village, we got to know 
much of their inner life. 

"We soon found that a great deal of the barter goods we had 
brought were of little use among these people. Only our 
German knives, cloths, and calico would be tradeable. Our 
beads they would not look at, they were too coarse and large ; 
their taste lay in the small scarlet and blue sorts. I had 
brought a good many English sovereigns ; they looked at 
them narrowly and weighed them, but would not trade in 
them. This I considered very strange, inasmuch as their most 
valued possessions were gold earrings. The explanation, how- 
ever, I discovered later. The Egerons master, it seems, had 
brought a quantity of false English gold made in Singapore, 
using them as barter articles with the people on his first 
voyages, and some of which they showed me. When they 
came to beat out these coins the deception was at once discov- 
ered, and during our visit it was impossible to pass a single 
gold piece. Had the natives had the certainty that the coins 
were genuine, they would have given many times their value 
in exchange, and, being easily transported, they ought to have 
formed our most valuable trade medium. We learned, too, 
what caused us considerable anxiety, that the islands produced 
practically no rice ; nor was sago, as used on the other islands, 
to be had unless we could manufacture it ourselves from the 
trees. The products of the island from which the natives 
mainly obtained their food-supply were Indian corn, sweet 
potatoes, and a few species of legume, which was all we should 
have to fall back on if our own not very ample supplies ran 
short. 



IN TIMOR-LAUT, 307 



CHAPTER IV. 

sojourn IN timor-latjt — continued. 

The natives — Hair and coiffures — Vanity— Stature and living characteristics 
— Cranial characters — Clothing — Tjikalele dance — Arms — Marriage 
—Artistic skill — Individual- and moral character — Treatment of their 
children — Games — Fine figures — Graves — Gocd butterfly resorts. 

Many trying and vexatious delays — the laziness of the natives, 
quarrels in the village, and fear of attacks from our neigh- 
bours, which are easier to look back on from the midst of civili- 
sation than to bear at the time, with equanimity — prevented om 
house, which taxed all our energies, from being finished till 
the nineteenth day after our arrival, and not till then was I 
able to commence making any close study of the surrounding- 
country, or of its flora and fauna. But we had no useless time 
on our hands, everything was so new to us. The people that 
came about us to gaze, were all subjects deserving the closest 
study. Their every gesture and every custom had to be 
watched with microscopic acuteness, if we were to improve our 
opportunities and not fail in deciphering the story — only thus 
recorded and to be ere long blurred and blotted by foreign 
contact — of their race, incessantly being unfolded before us 
in their every unconscious word and commonest action. 

All the natives of the islands we saw were handsome-featured 
fellows, lithe, tall, erect, and with splendidly formed bodies. 
They dyed their hair of a rich golden colour by a preparation 
made of cocoa-nut ash and lime, varying, however, in shade 
with the time, from a dirty grey through a red or russet colour, 
till the second day, when the approved tint appeared. Several 
modes of arranging their hair were in vogue. It was either 
carefully combed out, transfixed with a long fork-like comb, 
and confined withiu a single girdle of palm-leaf, or a black, red 



308 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



and white patchwork band, was allowed to hang loose to the 
shoulders ; or it was done up in a frizzed mop, different, how- 
ever, from the unravellable matted wisp seen on the Papuans 











J.B.O 
COIFFURES OF THE NATIVES OF TIMOlt-LAXIT. 

of Macluer Inlet in New Guinea, or among the Aru Islanders. 
Their coiffure seems to depend on the kind of hair, straight 
or frizzled, that Nature has given them ; when frizzled it is 




arranged in a mop, and when straight it is combed out and 
crimped with the instrument shown on page 309, to hang 
down the back in a " cataract." The arranging of their hair is 
one of their most enjoyed occupations, and the vanity with which 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 309 



they bind it within various coloured bands — narrow above broad 
— laid one on another, before a mirror formed of water collected 
in the bottom of a prau, or on the calm sea-face itself, is most 
amusing to see. The men are very fond of having their hair 
cut quite short, as it no doubt relieves them for a time bv 
reducing the population in that region of their bodies. 

One day some of them seeing in our house a pair of scissors, 
eagerly begged its use for this purpose, whereupon one of 
them at once started as haircutter, and as soon as it was known 
that such operations were going on a crowd collected, and, 
sitting down in a row, waited for their turn. We tried to 
get some specimens of their locks, but when they saw that we 
desired to keep the portions we picked up, they became quite 
afraid, and excitedly demanded them back, for fear, as they 
said, they would die if they remained in our keeping. They 
gathered up every scrap, and had 
not a kind wind assisted us, and 
blown a few pieces to a little dis- 
tance out of their sight, which 

A and I marked down noting 

the subject from which each had 
come, we could not have obtained 
a single specimen. In Sumatra 
I once saw a man most carefully 
bury the scraps after paring his 
finger-nails. It seems as if there existed in these countries 
a superstitious dread of any part of their person being in pos- 
session of another. One day, when I purchased from a man 
his father's skull, something of the same dread appeared; 
for as soon as the bargain was completed, the seller took from 
his luvu (or siri-holder) a piece of areca-nut, and, setting the 
skull before him, he placed the nut between its teeth, and before 
handing it over to me he repeated a long and devout invoca- 
tion. On another occasion, also, when I purchased from an old 
man a large fish, which he had just taken with great difficulty, 
he would not hand it over to me till he had cut off one of the 
pectoral fins, to return it, with an invocation to the nitu, or 
soul of the fish, lest he should come by harm. 

The character of the hair is the same in both sexes. Among 
the women hair is abundant on the head without being 




INSTRUMENT FOS CRIMPING THE 
HAIR. 



310 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



profuse ; but they take little or no care of it, simply twisting 
it into a knot behind, where it is transfixed with a neatly 
ornamented comb. They never dye it, that apparently being 
the prerogative of the male sex alone. 

The men vary very greatly in stature : some are short and 
thick-set, and reach little over 5 feet, if they even attain that 
height. The greater proportion are tall, well formed men of 
about 5 feet 11 inches, but some stand well over 6 feet — 
splendid looking fellows with perfect frames and magnificent 
muscles. In their walk they stride forward in a jerky, 
bouncing style, which gives to the head and their hair 
when combed out behind, a quick nodding motion. Their 
whole motion is full of grace, but so proportioned are they that 
it really seems scarcely possible for them to move ungrace- 
fully. As youths they are splendid examples of the human 
form ; as children not a few of both sexes are really pretty 
in face and figure, but unfortunately they are frequently dis- 
figured by an enormously distended stomach and abdomen, 
which induces a sad and sickly expression of countenance. 
The women vary greatly also ; some being short and thick-set, 
scarcely reaching 5 feet, while others are as tall as the taller 
of the men. Many of the girls are handsome, and a few are 
even beauties, with pensive eyes, delicate features, and fault- 
less in contour of body and limb ; but as they pass into the 
married state their features become coarser, yet on the whole 
neither sex can be called ugly. 

The colour of their smooth soft skin is a rich chocolate brow-n ; 
but here and there among them occurs a quite black-skinned 
individual, who is at once remarkable as being an exception to 
the prevailing colour. In feature the forehead retreats slightly 
from the prominent superciliary ridges, as seen in profile. En 
face it is somewhat flat. In the malar region, in some the 
cheek-bones are very prominent ; while in others, again, this 
feature is as little observable. The brows are low, but not con- 
spicuously hairy. The eyes are small and narrow, and in some 
of them a slight obliquity is observable, while, on the other hand, 
there are those with the eyeball very prominent. There are two 
distinct forms of nose among them : one in which that feature is 
very low between the eyes, advancing with a straight dorsum to 
the retrousse tip, which discloses both nostrils conspicuously, 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 311 



the tip being markedly pointed ; the other form in which the 
dorsum is higher between the eyes, is straight, and sometimes 
arched, and the tip pointed, depressed, and incurved to form a 
thick fat septum. In this form the nostrils are almost concealed, 
and the aim nasi much inflated. En face both dorsa are straight, 
the first form exhibiting the nostrils fully and the septum ; the 
second form with the dorsum compressed slightly in the middle, 
the nostrils scarcely seen, and the aim nasi inflated. The upper 
lip is prognathus ; the lower somewhat retreating or orthogna- 
thus. The teeth of the upper jaw overlap those of the lower 
jaw, but this is not invariable, many of both sexes having the 
teeth meeting evenly. From the malar region the face rapidly 
converges to the small, non-protruding, round, and rather well- 
shaped chin. The ears are small, but a good deal disfigured 
by the large irregularly bored holes and slits made in the 
lobe, while the helix and scaphoid fossa are distorted by a 
series of smaller holes in which the earrings graduate from 
above downwards, from small to greater. 

From my own observations on the living people, as well as 
from an examination kindly made for me by Dr. Garson of the 
crania which I brought home, two very different types can 
be made out, the brachycephalic and the dolichocephalic, the 
former greatly predominating. From the differences in colour of 
the skin, from the variation seen in the features and in the 
character of the hair it is evident that in the Tenimber Islands 
we have a distinctly mixed race, consisting of Malayan and 
Polynesian elements, as well as of the Papuan as found in New 
Guinea ; in fact, some of their crania are indistinguishable from 
specimens obtained near Port Moresby. The Malayan type of 
nose did not always coincide with the presence of straight hair, 
though in some cases they did so markedly. I noted women 
in Larat with perfectly straight hair, and yet with the Papuan 
type of nose and face ; and others again in whom frizzly hair 
accompanied a nose half Papuan, half Malayan. 

By Polynesian I mean the brown race seen in the Fiji and 
Samoan Islands, as distinguished from the sooty black tribes 
occurring in Aru and New Guinea. This commingling may 
be the result of many causes. Timor-laut was probably one 
of the last Islands, as Mr. Keane believes, occupied by the 
Polynesian race in Malaysia during its eastern migration to 



312 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



the remote Archipelagos of the Pacific, and some members of 
the family may have been left behind, and these mingling 
with subsequent arrivals from Papuasia and Malaysia may 
have thus contributed to the present heterogeneous ethnical 
relations observed by me. 

That some connection with the Indo-Malayan region has 
taken place, seems to be indicated by the presence of the 
Tangalunga one of the Viverridas, so commonly carried about 
by these people, and of the herds of buffaloes on the mainland, 




ORNAMENTED BELT-BCCKLE. 



animals quite foreign to the Austro-Malayan region, which must 
have been brought by the Malays, though it is incredible that 
in their small praus they would carry so great a quadruped 
as a buffalo. The Timor-laut tribes have, moreover, been long 
notorious for their piratical habits, attacking all boats passing- 
near their shores, making slaves of the men, and concubines of 
the women. In the boats that called at Eitabel on their way 
home from various parts of the group I have seen being taken 
back with them women, whoni the chain binding them to 
the mast proclaimed to be slaves captured or bought. The 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 



313 



Buginese and Macassar traders also carry on a considerable 
traffic in slaves, bringing them from Halmabeira and the coasts 
of Borneo and Celebes. In this way also may be accounted 
for some of the race-minfflinof. 

The clothing of the men consists of a narrow T-shaped loin- 
cloth, with the ends which hang down in front decorated with red, 
black and white patchwork, and adorned with sections of cowrie- 
shells and with beads. The women wear a short sarong (Malay 
petticoat), artistically woven by themselves out of the fibres of 
the Aloan-palm (Borassus Jiabelliformia), suspended by a broad 
belt made from the stem of its leaf and fastened by an elaborately 
carved buckle of wood which frequently in married women has 
been the gift of her husband at the time when her purchase-money 
was agreed on, possibly a sort of engagement token. Armlets 
cut from conus shells, of brass, of ivory, or 
of wood, carved like those worn by the Hill 
Dyaks of Borneo, are worn by both sexes ; 
while the women have in addition toe-rino;s 
and anklets of brass. Round the helix and 
in the lobe of their ears the women wear a 
graduated series of silver or of gold lor- 
lora or rings, which in the case of the men 
is often so heavy as to break away the 
cartilage. The patterns of these ear orna- 
ments are exceedingly chaste, especially 
those carved out of bone, of ivory and 
ebony combined, or of the tooth of the rare 
and highly-prized dugong (Halieore). 

Both sexes tatoo a few simple devices, 
circles, stars and pointed crosses, on the breast, on the brow, on 
the cheek, and on the wrists ; and scar, with the utmost equani- 
mity, their arms and shoulders with red hot stones in imitation 
of small-pox marks, as a charm that will ward off, they think, 
that disease. I did not, however, see any one variola-marked, 
nor could I learn of an epidemic of the disease having appeared 
among them. As it was considered by the women a mark of 
beauty to have filed teeth, some of them had only a narrow 
rim left protruding from their gums. 

The men spend a life of savage indolence or indulgence, 
the women alone are always busily occupied. In the morning, 




314 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



after arranging their hair, the men remove from the palm- 
trees, invariably to the chanting of a song of invocation, the 
bamboos with the tuak collected in them over night, and trim 
the stem for running during the day to supply their evening 
libations. Than when ascending the trees the Tenimber athlete, 
his fautless form against the sky, and his brown skin and 
golden hair in contrast with the grey stem of the tree, never 
shows to greater advantage. 

The chief meal of the day lasts from about eight o'clock till 
nearly noon, and consists of boiled Indian corn meal, mixed 
with mashed manioc and peas, along with fish — hunted for along 
the shore with bow and arrow, or by scattering on the water 
rice steeped in an infusion of a poisonous vine — and a very great 
deal of palm wine, fresh drawn as well as distilled. The meal 
is partaken of in considerable companies together in large sheds 
open at the gables in or near the village, generally in the 
buildings where their tuak is being distilled, which are used also 
for common assembly rooms. Very few of the older men leave 
the meal sober, or become (i capable " during the rest of the day, 
a condition in which they are boisterously talkative, querulous 
and pugnacious. The women eat in private, or snatch a bite 
of food when they can. 

All day long two ceaseless sounds are heard, the click-clack 
of their looms and the dull thud of the stamping of Indian corn 
and peas in large tridacna shells. If the women are not thus 
employed they are away by prahu, accompanied by some of the 
younger men, to fetch the necessary stores from their gardens. 
In these plantations, made in the forest on the poor soil which 
covers the underlying coral rocks, they cultivate sweet potatoes, 
manioc, sugar cane, and their staple food, Indian corn, with 
a little rice (which grows very badly), some cotton, and a good 
deal of tobacco, whose leaves they chew but do not smoke. 

In time of war the common safety is watched all night by 
the villagers, eight or ten at a time in rotation, who dance the 
Tjikelele round a figure of their deity, or Duadilah, each man 
beating with his hand on a cylindrical drum, singing to its 
accompaniment a song or invocation with a wild and shrieking 
chorus, which at the time of full moon is kept up for many 
unbroken days and nights. 

Their arms are a shield, often elaborately carved and 



IN T1M0R-LAUT. 315 



adorned with the hair of their enemies, bows and arrows, and 
various forms of iron or copper pointed lances and spears, 
which they can use with marvellous precision, and a long 
sword carried in a loop in a buffalo-hide corslet to fit beneath 
the arms made by themselves, and resembling a 16th century 
cuirass, of which it is probably a copy. They use also 
counterfeit Tower guns (made in Singapore), but as they fill 
them with gunpowder almost to the muzzle they are nothing 
like the dangerous weapon — except to themselves — that their 
unerring arrow is. 

A man may have as many wives as he can purchase, but as 
a rule it is all he can do to secure one, till, at least, he is con- 
siderably advanced in years, and has disposed of some of his 
daughters for gold earrings and elephants' tusks, two factors 
which cannot be eliminated from the bargain, and are not over 
common. These tusks are brought chiefly from Singapore 
and Sumatra where they cost 200 or 300 florins each, by the 
Buginese traders, who with the westerly winds seek out the 
creeks and bays of the " far, far East " to exchange them for 
trepang and tortoiseshell. The father of the girl has often to 
wait a long time for the ivory portion of her price ; but he 
hands her over, on the payment of the other items of the 
bargain, to her purchaser, who takes up his abode in her 
house, where she and her children remain as hostages till the 
full price is paid. A girl sorely wounded by the Blind God 
occasionally takes the settlement of affairs into her own hands, 
and runs away with the object of her affection, without the 
permission of her parents, a proceeding which does not relieve 
him of the purchase money. If, however, she had been or 
was about to ba disposed of to another man, and had eloped 
with a more desired youth, she would be forcibly seized and 
her companion would be punished with death. Their wives, 
if not treated with a great show of affection, are not subjected 
to much restraint or subjection, and live a free and not 
unhappy life. 

The opening months of a Tenimber's islander's existence are 
not passed on a bed of roses. Strolling through the village one 
evening we were beckoned into a hut to see a newly born infant. 
It was lying quite naked, with only a hard palm-spathe be- 
neath its back and a square inch or so of cloth on its stomach, 



?16 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



in a rude cradle or Siicela, a rough rattan basket suspended so 
as to rock over a fire in a smoke so dense that we were 
amazed that it was not suffocated. Occasionally the nurse drops 




I V f 4r 

CARVED COMB, ORNAMENTED WITH INLAID BONE. 

to sleep, and the fire burns the bottom out of the Siwela, and 
the child is worse off than if it had been bitten by all the mos- 
quitos of Larat, to be free from which it is so suspended. The 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 



317 



child, it would seem, is invariably laid in exactly the same posi- 
tion in the cradle, either on its back or ou one side according 
to the place of its suspension in the house, with the result that 
the hinder part of its head becomes quite flattened. In some 
living infants the deformity was very prominent, and that it 
remains permanent is evidenced by one of 
the crania of a full-grown man which I 
brought home ; but no sort of binding is 
applied to the head in any stage of their 
youth, as among many tribes, to induce an 
abnormal and admired shape of head. 

The artistic ability of the Timor-laut 
people is unquestionably very high. They 
are very deft-fingered and clever carvers 
of wood and ivory. The " figure-heads " 
of their outrigger praus, dug out of single 
trees, especially attract attention by the 
excellence of the workmanship, carefully 
and patiently executed, and the elegance 
of their furnishings ; while the whole 
length of the central pillars of their 
houses are also most elaborately carved 
with intricate patterns and representa- 
tions of crocodiles and other animals. 
Their appreciation of beauty is a charac- 
teristic of them, which, absolutely wanting 
in the Malay people, I was surprised to 
find among a less advanced race. While 
walking th rough the forest they invariably 
pluck and tastefully arrange in a hole in 
their comb which is there for the very 
purpose, any particularly bright bunch of 
flowers they see. 

Their houses, though little more than 
floor and roof, are very neat structures, elevated four or 
five feet above the ground, and entered by a stair through 
a trap-door cut in the floor, which is shut down and slotted 
at night. In front of the door is a seat of honour — dodolcan 
— with ornamented supports and a high carved back, on the 
top of which is placed an image — Duadilah — with, at its 
22 



ORNAMEXTED CHALK- 
HOLDER. 



318 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



side, a platter whereon a morsel of food is offered every time 
they eat in its presence. Every time they drink they dip 
their finger and thumb in the fluid, and flick a drop or two 
upward with a few muttered words of invocation. Along 
the four sides spaces for sleeping on are raised some nine 
to twelve inches above the level of the rahanralan or floor of 
the house. The inmates sleep on small, neatly made bamboo 
mats, and rest their heads on a piece of squared bamboo with 
rounded edges, exactly similar to the Chinese pillow. In one 




HOUSE IN T1MOR-LAUT. 



gable is the foean or fire-place, and opposite to it on a trellis- 
work platform is placed the cranium of the father of the Head 
of the house. Indian corn and other comestibles and various 
articles are stored on little platforms stretching between the 
rafters, and their scanty clothing and other articles are sus- 
pended from the roof by wooden contrivances often elaborately 
designed and elegantly carved (see pp. 320, 324). After seeing 
how elaborately covered almost everything they used was with 
carvings, executed with undoubted taste and surprising skill, 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 



319 



we began to ask ourselves, first, Can suck artistically developed 
people be savages ?— and, next, the more difficult question, 
What is a savage? 

The Tenimberese are very independent in character ; " every 
man his own master " is their motto. Though they have an 
Orang Kay a or Chief, his voice has but little more influence 
than any other full-aged man's. The " old men's " opinion has 
some weight with the younger men, but every man speaks out 




HOUSE IN TI5IOR-LAUT, WITH ROOF REMOVED TO SHOW THE INTERIOR. 

his mind boldly and fearlessly. When any serious deliberation 
is going on, the whole community crowds round the assembly 
room, the women even taking part, and expressing freely and 
without offence their opinions. The voice of the majority is 
the law of their community. 

Their moral characteristics are such as might be expected 
from a rude people subject to no restraint ; they are sensual, 
though no immorality in their actions or in their carvings 
ever comes to the public gaze. They are essentially selfish and 



520 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



devoid of all feelings of gratitude or pity. To give anything 
for nothing would be a breach of all their hereditary instincts. 
On one occasion, towards the end of 
our stay, when our larder was empty 
and our men were away in the northern 
island of Molu, a bunch of fish, which 

A was sorely in need of after a 

long bout of fever, was brought to us 
for sale ; but the barter demanded was 
a particular kind of button, of which 
we had not a single example remain- 
ing. We offered almost anything they 
might choose from our stock — cloth, 
knives, beads — nothing, however, but 
the button would satisfy them. Give 
us the fishes the owner would not ; 
instead, he hung them on a peg at our 
very door, where we dared not have 
touched them, where they remained 
till next day, when I had to fetch him 
to relieve us of the putrefying odour, 
which he did by casting them into 
the sea ! Where they think they can 
escape detection they lie and steal 
without compunction, though their laws punish the latter with 
slavery, from which the thief can be ransomed only by a great 
sum. When sober they are good natured enough and live in 
harmony with each other, but in their cups they are easily 
offended. To their enemies they are savagely cruel, executing 
on those that fall into their hands the most revolting atrocities 
before affixing their dismembered quarters to their public 
places. 

Like all untutored races they .are very inquisitive. They 
watched our " manners and customs " as eagerly as we did 
theirs. From morning to night we had constant relays lying 
in or sitting about our house, whom it was impossible to dis- 
miss without giving offence. Though it was a very interesting 
study and there was much to be learned from watching those 
big children in their various moods, it was not quite pleasant to 
have them always with us, or to take our food with an infinitesi- 




SUSPENSORY CONTRIVANCE 
MADE OF PALM-LEAF. 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 32 L 



mally clad savage sitting at the table, rubbing his hips against 
our plates. Happily, I observed one day that they had a 
mighty horror of snakes, which supplied me with an effectual 
means of ridding ourselves when over-burdened with their com- 
pany. I would cautiously proceed to insert my hand without 
any apparent reference to our visitors, into the large tin in 
which my spirit specimens were kept, an operation they pressed 
closely and intently round me to watch. A vigorous splutter 
inside made them draw back somewhat ; but on withdrawing my 
hand with a writhing snake, the crowd would tumble over each 
other out at the door screaming and shouting. As they never 
waited to see the end of the operation, they never came to know 
that I had not a mania for keeping live snakes. 

In the treatment of their children, both parents were inva- 
riably kind and affectionate. To see the fathers carrying about 
their children in the evenings, with kindly care, one could 
scarcely believe in the savage ferocity of their natures, as we 
had seen it exhibited more than once. Like mothers every- 
where else, the women seemed pleased at the notice A would 

take of their infants, who, like those with white skins, derived 
amusement from little dolls — stuffed with rice grains instead of 
sawdust ; and the little packets of sugar she often gave them 
were inviolately kept though tempting enough to the mothers 
also, and given to them little by little. All their children were 
profusely adorned with beads and necklets, and their little 
limbs were encased in perfect bucklers of shell armlets. 

The youths and boys used to play in the evenings in the 
most lively manner, often in company witli the younger fathers, 
while a crowd of interested villagers looked on. One of their 
great amusements was the sailing of miniature boats elegantly 
made out of gaha-gaba, or sago palm stems, which they entered 
for championship in spirited regattas. They would build also 
forts of sand, and defend them against their comrade foes with 
balls of wet mud. The laughter which hailed a good hit told 
of the enjoyment and interest of the on-looking crowd of 
villagers of all aires. Their chief game, however, one more of 
skill and precision than the others, was played with discs cut 
off from the top of conns shells, of which each player had two 
One of these quoits he deposited in a little depression in the 
ground, and the other he played from a crease a few yards 



522 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



distant, so as to dislodge a quoit from the row. If the player 
failed to hit he had to return to the crease to play again in his 
turn, but if he succeeded he played a second time from where 
his quoit rested. Passing his right hand holding the disc round 
to his left side as far as he could stretch, and steadying it with 
his left hand, he would take in this position steady aim, calcu- 
lating with a glancing eye the spot he intended to hit, then with 
a run forward a few steps to the crease, he would deliver with 
all his might. Not only did the young lads and boys engage 
in this game, but even the grown-up men joined with much bois- 
terous laughter. At a very early age the children begin to 
wade about the shallow margins of the sea, practising with spear 
and arrow the capture of fish, training arm and eye till when 
they have come of age, they have attained an almost unerring 
accuracy of aim. A fine exhibition was to be witnessed of 
the beauty of the human figure when the youths — fine fellows 
in the perfection of their manhood — came out at sundown 
to practise the drawing of the bow or throwing of the lance. 
How awkward were the attempts of myself and my Amboinese 
boys ! How well-merited their good-natured jeering ! The 
marvellous grace, however, of the human form was unsur- 
passingly exhibited when — the setting sun behind their lissom 
untrammelled figures — the women were returning from the 
fields, standing erect at the stern, and with long strokes poling 
in their buoyant praus. One view might shame half of the 
spine-deformed, waist-distorted slaves of fashion out of cus- 
toms, which are as barbarous as any which are recorded as 
strange or hurtful among savage peoples. 

AVhen a man dies, his children and relatives assemble to 
lament his departure, but I have never seen any outward 
expression or sign of mourning. A pig is killed, but I am in 
doubt whether it is given to the assembled people to eat or 
laid with the dead body, which is then placed in a portion of 
a prau fitted to the length of the individual, or within strips 
of gaba-gaba, or stems of the sago palm pinned together. If it 
is a person of some consequence, such as an Orang Kaya, an 
ornate and decorated prau- shaped coffin is specially made. This 
is then enveloped in calico, and placed either on the top of a 
rock by the margin of the sea at a short distance from the 
village, or on a high pile-platform erected on the shore about 



IN T1M0R-LAUT. 



323 



low-tide mark. On the top of the coffin-lid are erected tail 
flags, and the figures of men playing gongs, shooting guns, and 
gesticulating wildly to frighten away evil influences from the 




GRAVE OF A NATIVE CHIEF. 



sleeper. Sometimes the platform is erected on the shore above 
high-water mark, and near it is stuck in the ground a tall 
bamboo full of palm-wine ; and suspended over a bamboo rail 



324 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



are bunches of sweet potatoes for the use of the dead man's 
Nitu. Two days after the burial, the family go to bathe and 
wash their hair; and after two days more they search for 
ten fishes and one tortoise wherewith to give a feast, which is 
finished with siri and libations of palm-wine. When the body 
is quite decomposed, his son, or one of the family, disinters 
the skull and deposits it on a little platform in his house, in 
the gable opposite the fire-place, while to ward off evil from 
himself he carries about with him the atlas and axis bones of 
its neck in his luvu, or siri-holder. The bodies of those who 
die in war or by a violent death are buried, and not placed on 




CARVED SUSPENSORY CONTRIVANCES. 



rocks or on a platform, where only such as die naturally are 
deposited ; and if his head has been captured a cocoa-nut is 
placed in the grave to represent the missing member, and to 
deceive and satisfy his spirit. 

I am doubtful if these rites are always faithfully performed, 
for on walking along the shore I have often seen, where the 
coffin has fallen to pieces, complete crania on the rocks where 
the body had been deposited, while occipital and frontal bones, 
mingling with jaws of pigs, lay quite uncared for on the shore. 
The dead man's spirit, they say, goes to Nusa Nitu, or Mara- 
matta — " an island near to Ceram," which the navigator passes 
fearful and vigilant, believing he hears strange unsiren sounds 
wafted out to him on the sea, and is thankful when the Home 
of the Spirits has sunk down in the horizon behind him. 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 325 



Northward from Ritabel, our village, the shore of the channel 
was dotted with detached coral boulders, on each of which 
several corpses reposed, whence the most fearful stench used 
especially after rain, to come down the wind. Whether this, or 
the Convolvulacece and creeping Papilionacese that flowered in 
abundance there, was the attracting cause I cannot say ; but 
certain it is that these most pestiferous spots were our richest 

butterfly grounds. There A caught the new Hijpolymnas 

forbesii, Terias laratensis, and among many others two different 
species, Calliploea visenda and Chanapa sacerdos — which it was 
next to impossible to distinguish on the wing from their 
mimicking each other — both new to science, while the lovely 
Ptilojnts ivallacii frequented in crowds the fig-trees that over- 
hung this foetid shore. 



326 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



CHAPTER V. 

sojourn in timor-laut — continued. 

Religion and superstitions — Visit to Waitidal — Barter for a skull — Send my 
"hunters to the northern inlands of the group — Climate of Timor-laut — 
A mauvais quart d'heure — Designation of the group — Geographical and 
geological features. 

The Teniinber islanders recognise some supreme existence 
whom they call Duaclilah, of whom there is an image in their 
houses, over the principal seat, or dodokan, facing the entrance, 
with at its side a platter, or bilaan, on which a little food and 
drink is placed whenever they themselves eat. From their luvus, 
among the other heterogeneous odds and ends which it con- 
tains, they can generally produce one small image, sometimes 
more. Their little gods vary in form according to the occupa- 
tion they are engaged in ; but in what light they regard them 
I could not discover. Singularly enough, one of these images 
(on the left hand, p. 327) lias a most wonderful resemblance to 
one brought by Mr. Wallace from New Guinea, and figured 
in his- ' Malay Archipelago.' That they have a firm belief in 
a powerful, chiefly an avenging, spirit I feel certain. One 
day a stranger to the village had his loin-cloth stolen. After 
several days had passed without his recovering it, we were 
surprised to see a boat urgently propelled across the bay, 
from which the owner of the stolen cloth impulsively sprang, 
bringing with him a small red flag on the end of a slender 
pole. This he erected on the spot whence his cloth had dis- 
appeared, and after looking up with a steady and penetrating 
eye and repeating in a most tragic and excited manner a long 
imprecation against the thief and the village, he removed the 
pole, jumped into his boat, and, without accosting any one, 
withdrew in the same urgent manner from the now doomed 
village. 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 



327 



As the constant dread of attack by the Kaleobar tribe on our 
village, by keeping us in a daily state of suspense and anxiety, 
restricted my operations to a narrow area, I proposed to the 
native Postholder that we should together visit that village to 




DUADILAH. 



try what could be done by personal influence to establish peace. 
He, however, seemed by no means willing to accompany me, 
excusing himself on the plea that the people of Waitidal the 
next village, which had lost more than our own by Kaleobar 
raids, would oppose a peace. I therefore determined first to 



323 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



sound them on the subject. Accompanied by an Orang Kai/a 
or chief, from Sera, on the west coast, who happened to be in 
Eitabel on a visit, and who spoke a little Malay, I proceeded 
to Waitidal. As like most of the Tenimberese Tillages, it was 
situated on a flat space of some extent on the summit of a bluff 
which stood a good way back from the shore, we had in order to 
reach the gateway to ascend the perpendicular face of the cliff 
by a steep wooden trap stair, which I observed was of dark-red 
wood, its sides elaborately sculptured with alligators and 
lizards, and surmounted by a carved head on each side. On 
entering I saluted those near the gate, but we were rather 
coldly received. As we proceeded up the centre of the vil- 
lage two elderly men, who were evidently intoxicated, rushed 
at us with poised spears, gesticulating and shouting to those 
around to oppose us. The tumult brought out the Orang 
Kaya, whose approach prevented any immediate act of hos- 
tility, and to him my guide explained the object of our 
visit. Having shaken hands with us — a sign of friendship — 
he, accompanied by the older men, conducted us to his house, 
through the door-hole of which I ascended with the uneasy 
feeling of entering a trap. My proposals being fully ex- 
plained to them, they were received at first with little oppo- 
sition, till my intoxicated friends joined the circle. One was 
evidently a man of some importance in the village, and at once 
opposed the project in a spirit of hostility, which gradually 
spread to the others. As no palaver is ever conducted without 
profuse libatious raw palm-spirit distilled by themselves, was 
passed round in cocoanut-shell cups, and I was expected to 
keep pace — no slow one — with their drinking. As the spirit 
circulated the hostile feeling developed, especially as the 
discussion had merged into another, viz., that I should be per- 
suaded to leave Eitabel and dwell in Waitidal. They found I 
had sold much cloth and knives in Eitabel, but had brought 
none over to them ; I could have plenty of fowls among them ; 
they would find me no end of birds, and would not cheat me in 
the way the Eitabel people were doing. To this, of course, I 
could not agree, and put my refusal as pleasantly as I could.. 
I tried to bring the palaver to a close by rising to leave ; 
but this they would not permit, for one of them barred my 
exit by sitting on guard on the top of the hatch. I shortly 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 329 



discovered that the subject of their excited wrangling was 
whether I should be permitted to leave at all. My guide, after 
whispering to me not to be alarmed and adding a remark I did 
not comprehend, went away, luckily leaving riie door open, 
intending, as I imagined, to return soon ; but he either joined 
some other drinking party and forgot to do so, or purposely 
left me to my own resources. Pretending to be quite pleased 
to prolong my visit, I presented my cup for more spirit, and 
as successive rounds were filled my companions became in- 
capable of observing that I did not drain my cup till I had 
passed its contents through the floor, and was imperceptibly 
nearing the now open trap-door. I took the first opportunity 
of diving through the orifice, and with a bold step shaped my 
course for the stairway at the top of the rock, where I felt I 
could dispute my departure on even terms. My guide appeared 
with rather a hang-dog look, and we wasted no time in getting 
to our boat and rowing out some distance from the shore. 

I did not venture a second time amongst them, although 
the villagers of Waitidal in order to secure a share of the cloths 
and other goods I was disposing of, came over constantly to 
our village in twos or threes, to barter provisions, carved 
work, and ethnological objects. On one occasion an amusing 
incident occurred during the purchase from a Waitidal man of 
a cranium. He had brought me, with the usual secrecy, a fine 
skull, but fitted with a lower jaw which I saw did not belong to it. 
I pointed out the fact, and urged him to make a search for the 
corresponding bone. After arguing the point along time with- 
out effect, he thought he had settled matters by saying, " There 
is really no mistake ; I remember quite well when my father 
was alive he had just this sort of under jaw ! " Finding it was 
no good and that I would not trade, he went his way ; but in a 
few hours he came back with a beaming face — he had found 
his father's lower jaw. His father's brother had been laid down 
on the same stone, hence the mistake. I traded to his dutiful 
son's satisfaction, who, before giving me possession, inserted a 
piece of pinang nut between its teeth, and in a most reveren- 
tial manner paid his last invocation to the Head of his line. 
That son's welfare is regulated now from the Mammalian 
Gallery of the British Museum ! 

The Postholder, backed by the action of the Waitidal 



330 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



people, would not venture to Kaleobar, and I did not consider 
it prudent to go alone. We had therefore to bear with 
equanimity what could not be remedied ; but it was galling 
to be in a new and unknown country and be tied to a few acres 
of it, without being able to cross the mainland to the west 
coast, or to penetrate farther south from want of guides, and 
especially of carriers to accompany me ; for, contrary to the 
general statement that there exists a " black frizzly-headed 
savage people in the interior," * there are absolutely no in- 
habitants in the interior of Timor-laut. Villages occur pretty 
thickly along the coasts, except on the northern portion, 
where there does not appear to be any population at all. 

As the Postholder was about to pay a visit to the outlying 
islands of Maru and Molu, which Mere inhabited by a very 
friendly people, I decided to send with him my two men — as I 
dared not myself leave my Herbarium to the care of a native, 
and my stores and collections unguarded — to collect and bring 
me all the information they could on the points I instructed 
them on, while I continued my operations on the still fruitful 
region to which I had access. 

The climate of Timor-laut is one of extreme insalubrity. 
For the first eighteen to twenty days none of my company 
suffered in the least ; but that period seemed to be Avith us all 
the limit of resistance to the deleterious miasma. The fever, 
the result in great part of the bad water (there being no 
streams in the district), and of the strong south-east winds 
that then supervened was one of great severity. Coming on 
with sickness, the temperature rose rapidly to 103°-105° 

accompanied with strong delirium, which in A 's case 

continued for nearly three weeks with but short intervals of 
release. During the continuance of the fever — which happily 
rarely attacked us both on the same day, a circumstance that 
enabled us to aid each other — the two most effectual remedies 
were, besides quinine, salicilate of soda and chloroform, the 
latter especially very rapidly lowering the temperature and 
inducing perspiration. 

Neither of us will likely ever forget our fever-attack of 

August 27th. A , wretchedly weak and reduced from weeks 

of almost continuous fever, was assisting me to get up after a 
* Stanford's Compendium, Australasia, by A. E. Wallace. 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 331 



bad day of the same about the hour the village was going to 
rest for the night. A terrific shot from a native gun— always 
charged to the very muzzle — startled the whole community. 
Shouts of " Kaleobar " resounded everywhere. Like a dis- 
turbed ant's-nest the villagers, every man with his arrow on 
the string or a sheaf of javelins in his hand, one of them ready 
poised, clustered out round the barricades shouting and ges- 
ticulating. We were alone — the Postholder and our men not 
having returned from Molu — except for one servant, use- 
less in such a case. After barricading; the door and sliding 
an explosive shell into my Martini, with a cheery t word to 
my companion who held ready a handful of cartridges, and a 
hasty look to see if the boat which, unknown to her, I had 
purchased expressly for perhaps such an emergency was still 
riding by its line to the pillar of the house, to serve as a last 
means of escape, I stood ready at the open window for what 
might follow. A sudden silence of the shouting supervened, a 
period of acute suspense to us, whose window did not look out 
on the barricades, and then the chief's son came to tell us 
that the shot was an accidental discharge of a late-returning 
villager's gun. It was a mauvais quart dlieure, short but 
terribly trying, which showed how tense was the nervous ex- 
pectancy under which the whole village was liviDg. The 
eaction of relief w r as nearly as difficult to endure as the 
suspense had been. 

Besides fever, which affected the natives also, few diseases 
existed on the islands. With the exception of that curious 
fungoid skin disease so common among the Papuan races, of a 
little scrofula, and, among the old people, rheumatic affections 
of the hands and limbs, the people were very healthy. 

Among other interesting facts, I learned from the inhabi- 
tants that the name of Timor-laut was quite unknown to 
them. This is a Malay appellation, probably given by the 
Macassar traders, who, falling on a large island farther in the 
sea than the one they best knew as the Easterly isle— which 
the name Timor signifies— designated this, by Timor-laut or 
the Eastern ls 7 and in the Sea. Another derivation of the name 
has been given that the appellation of the group is not Timor- 
laut but Timorlao, in which the termination lao means far, 
and that, therefore, their designation signifies the Far-east 



382 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Islands. I could not discover that they gave any general 
name to the whole group ; but they invariably designated the 
mainland of the northern of the two larger islands by the 
name Yamdena, while they spoke of the southern portion 
as Selaru, which, in their language, is the word for Indian 

corn. 

In examining the Tenimber islands, one is struck with the 
resemblance that exists between them and the Aru group, in 
the curious way in which both are cut up by narrow channels. 
"Some of the southern islands of Aru (I quote from the 
narrative of the voyage of the Dutch corvette Triton in 1828) are 
of considerable extent, but those to the north, lying close to 
the edge of the bank, are rarely more than five or six miles in 
circumference. The land is low, being only a few feet above 
the level of the sea except in spots where patches of rock rise 
to the height of twenty feet, but the lofty trees which cover 
the face of the country give it the appearance of being much 
more elevated." 

The island of Larat is separated from the mainland by a 
narrow strait, which I have designated with the honoured name 
of the author of the ' Malay Archipelago ' — Wallace Channel, 
which forms a fairly good harbour at its northern entrance, 
but shallows away towards the south end so much that only 
small boats can come through it at low tide, and in fact, to 
the south of Eitabel village the bottom can be reached all 
the way across, with the exception of a few yards, by a poling- 
rod. 

Between Larat and Vordate there is, in calm weather, a 
safe channel, yet on Captain Stanley's authority it is quite 
shoal. The sea to the northward; again, is very shallow, only 
narrow passages separating the islands of Frienun, Maru, and 
Molu, as I gather from my hunters (whose information I 
believe to be correct) whom I sent there for a few weeks to 
collect, and gather information. 

The lowness also of the country in our immediate neigh- 
bourhood struck me much. I could see on Larat and on the 
mainland, no ground rising at the most over a hundred feet 
or so, for standing on the shore I could look right across the 
main island, and see the greater part of the only height 
worthy of the name of mountain, within the range of vision, 



IN T1M0E-LAUT. 333 



the Peak of Laibobar. This mountain symmetrically conical 
in form, rises out of the sea on an islet on the west coast, and 
is, judging by the eye, somewhere about 2000 feet in height. 
I have little doubt that it will be found to be an extinct or 
dormant crater. I was shown by the natives a piece of 
pumice stone, used by them to polish their spearheads, which 
they say floats into their bay after northerly and westerly 
winds. Possibly some of it may be washed into the sea off 
the slopes of this mountain during the rainy season. Further 
experience showed me that the whole of the mainland of 
Yamdena, as far as my excursions extended, was also of coral, 
which formed precipitous cliffs nearly all round the islands, 
in some places as much as sixty to eighty feet in height ; but 
about Egeron Strait the coast is said to rise about four 
hundred feet. 

I was early struck with the fact that everywhere the island 
was composed of coral, and that the vegetation grew on the 
scantiest possible soil. No rock of a sedimentary or granitoid 
character could I detect anywhere on the islet of Larat. I 
had at first thought that a stratified-like mass near our resi- 
dence had that character, but on closer examination it turns 
out to be entirely non-arenaceous. 

There are no mountains in the islands, and no fresh water 
streams. All our so-called fresh water was skimmed off the 
surface of holes made in the coral, and was brackish and un- 
palatable. On the mainland, however, I noticed at points 
slightly above high-water mark fresher water than that found 
in Larat, flowing, it seemed, from springs. 

The whole of the northern portion of the islands, therefore, 
appears to have been recently elevated or is perhaps still 
being so, after a long submersion below the sea. 

The cliffs are all of coral, and the shore at low tide is 
formed of the stumps of elevated branched corals, and in 
many places a flat floor of hard concrete like what I saw in 
the Keeling atoll 
23 



334 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



CHAPTER VI. 

sojourn in timor-laut — continued. 

Natural history — Flora — Disaster to Herbarium — Fauna — Mimicking birds 

Insects — Fever and failure of supplies — Anxious waiting for stearoer 

Arrival of SS. Amboina — Leave Timor-laut for Amboina. 

Of the natural history of Timor-laut, about which almost 
nothing was known before our visit, I have been able, to a 
considerable extent, to fill up the blanks in our knowledge. 

In some places the low shrubby under-forest is so dense as 
to be almost impenetrable on account of its spiny character, 
while in other parts the woods are open below. The trees were, 
some of them, of considerable height, but of no great thick- 
ness, and but sparsely distributed. The largest I observed 
were Sterculias and fig-trees of the genus TJrostigma. The 
former are common and, in throwing out their flowers in 
advance of their foliage, their crowns form enormous bright 
scarlet bosses and are the most characteristic objects in the 
landscape. Doubtless they occur all along the coast, and very 
likely suggested the term " brilliant " used by Captain Stanley 
in his description, already quoted, of the vegetation about 
Oliliet. This tree (Stercalia fcetida) is probably a near 
relative of, if it is not identical with, the Fire-tree of Aus- 
tralia, which has attracted so much admiration there. Legumi- 
nous trees and shrubs were very abundantly represented ; and 
with myrtles, pandans, palms, euphorbias, Malvaceae, figs, 
and Apocynaceous trees, formed the bulk of the vegetation. 
Under these a green carpet of Commelyna (C. nudiflord) 
hides the rough and knobbly coral. Casuarinas and Cycads, 
which, both in Timor and Aru, form so striking a feature of 
the vegetation, and phyllode-bearing Acacias with the Euca- 
lyptus and Melaleuca, which characterise the Australian flora, 
were singularly conspicious by their absence in the districts 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 335 



over which my operations extended. Artocarpus incisa, not the 
true bread-fruit, which is a seedless variety, but the species 
more common in the Moluccas, was found in considerable abun- 
dance. In its broad features, as far as we yet know, the plants 
of the Tenimber Island belong to a typically coral island flora. 
But among them are two most interesting species belonging to 
monotypic genera hitherto represented, as Sir Joseph Hooker 
has pointed out, only by single specimens — the one from the 
far separated islands of New Caledonia, and the other from 
West Australia. Growing in the coral crevices, often within 
the splash of the waves, I gathered a most lovely orchid, Den- 
drobium plialcenopsis, previously known only from Queensland 
in Australia, while open to the wash of the Arafura Sea out- 
side Cape Yatusianga, the trees were covered with Polvpodia- 
ceous ferns and orchids of the species Dendrobium antennatum, 
while the whole shore was strewed with seeds of many kinds. 

The Herbarium on which our present knowledge of the 
flora is based is very small ; my own would have been much 
larger but for an unfortunate lire in the drying-house in which 
it was being prepared, which consumed the greater portion of 
my botanical collection — a heart-breaking ejusode which I 
give in my companion's words : — 

" September 9th. This forenoon, when quite alone, H 

and the hunters having gone to the opposite shore for the day, 
and Kobes to the well a mile off, while I was sitting in that 
miserable, restless condition which succeeds a fever attack, a 
longing seized me to look out of the door, for I had for many 
days been unable to leave my sleeping apartment. Fortunate 
impulse ! Kobes had piled half a dozen great logs on the fire 
of the drying-house (an erection like our dwelling, and all the 
Tenimber tenements, of bamboo and atap thatch, now, at the 
close of the dry season, very imflammable) and left them to 
the whims of a strong breeze, which, at the moment I looked, 
had just fanned the fire into fierce flames. I sped into the 
village for help, but met the Postholder with his men running 
towards me, attracted by the rushing noise of the flames. With- 
out a moment's delay some of them cut great palm branches 
to interpose between the burning house and the overhanging 
eaves of our dwelling, others tore apart the framework, scattered 
the bundles of plants, and beat the flames with green branches, 



336 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



while the Tonimber natives poured on water which they carried 
in "ourds and bamboos from the sea close by. With what 
breathless anxiety I watched the effect of each gust of wind, 
for the thatch of our house— in which were stored several tins 
of petroleum and of spirits of wine, and a quantity of gun- 
powder — was already scorched. Had it caught, nothing could 
have saved the whole village, nor us from the vengeance of the 
people. At last the flames were got under, and I had time to 
realise that the few charred and sodden bundles before me was 
all that remained of more than 500 of the first gathered 
specimens of the flora of Tenimber collected at such risk and 
pains. I could not bear to stand on the shore, as usual, to 
welcome the home-coming boat, but long ere it touched, the 
ruined drying-hoiise had told them the disheartening news of 
the disaster that had happened." 

If we except birds, animal life I found to be but poorly 
represented. Besides a Cuscus, a genus of Marsupials common 
to the Moluccas and new Guinea, and doubtfully a wild pig, 
I saw no indigenous mammalian animals — with one reserva- 
tion. On the mainland we found large herds of buffaloes 
living in a wild state, being indigenous as far as native 
tradition could enlighten us, for they believe that they came 
up out of the earth. When, and by what means they arrived 
is unknown ; but there can be little doubt that they have 
been brought by the accident of shipwreck, or by design. 
They must feed on the Commehjna, and on the leaves of low 
shrubs, for there is no grass to be found ; and they must often, 
I feel sure, be pressed for water to drink in the dry season. 

No kangaroos were seen or heard of in any of the islands, 
but a small species of mouse-like mammal, of which I was 
unable to catch a specimen, may be a Perameles or jumping- 
mousc. Of Rodents the common rat was — too abundant. No 
species of Sciuridse were observed. Of Cheiroptera there were 
several small species, besides a common Pterojnis or "Plying 
Fox." There are no deer. One species of Sirenian, probably 
the Halicore australis, frequents the shore, and is hunted by 
the natives for its ivories from which they make earrings. 
One frog was collected, while snakes and lizards were found 
in considerable numbers, one of each being a species new to 
science. While, out of sixty species of birds, I brought no 




machik'p ground-thrush (Geocichla machiki, forbes). 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 337 



fewer than twenty forms, aud of the butterflies and insects 
nearly one-half, that were undescribed before. 

One of the objects of my visit was to determine to what 
zoo-geographical province Timor-laut belonged. Lying as 
it does at no great distance from Am and New Guinea on 
the east, from Australia to the southward, and from Timor 
to the west, it was an interesting question which of them 
had behaved most bountifully by it. It is surrounded by a 
very deep sea, deeper, so the captain of one of the Dutch 
men-of-war surveying in that region just before my return to 
Europe informed me, than is represented in most of the charts. 
Looking to the birds peculiar to the group, all belong to 
Papuan genera (and nearly allied to known Papuan species) 
with the exception of a few species, which have their nearest 
representatives in Timor or in Australia. The insects, on the 
other hand, as collected by me, show a great preponderance of 
Timor over Aru or new Guinea forms, with a slight Australian 
tinge. The presence of snakes and frogs is also of great 
interest — a new species of the former (Simotes forbesi of 
Boulenger) being remarkable as the only one of the genus 
known to exist east of Java — when we consider its deep 
surrounding sea and all the indications that the Tenimber 
group, which is entirely of coral formation, has been elevated, 
after a long subsidence above the surface of the sea. 

The most interesting discoveries among the birds were a 
species of ground-thrush (Geocichla machiki), figured on the 
opposite page ; and the finding in Timor-laut of a new species of 
Honey-eater {Philemon timorlaoensis), (the first bird to attract 
our attention after landing), mimicked by a new species of 
Oriole (Oriolus decipiens). For some time I was quite puzzled 
by the difference of behaviour of certain individuals in flocks 
of these birds on the trees. Only after the closest comparison 
of the dead birds in my hand was the enigma solved by my 
perceiving that the birds were distinct species, of widely 
removed families, and I learned later that I had obtained 
new examples of that most curious case of mimicry first 
detected (among birds) by Mr. Wallace, where an Oriole con- 
stantly derives protection from its foes by acquiring the dress 
of a bird always of the same powerful and gregarious Honey- 
eaters. In the Island of Bum an Oriole accompan. s and 



338 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



copies a Philemon ; in Ceram and in Timor also, and now in 
Timor-laut yet another — the model and the copy — both of 
them distinct in each of the islands. When my collection was 
laid out for description by Dr. Sclater, the Oriole and the 
Honey-eater's dress were so strikingly similar, that the sharp 
eye of that distinguished Ornithologist was deceived, and the 
ttvo birds were described by him as the same species. Besides 
these, another lovely new species of the same family (see 
Frontispiece) of the Honey-eaters, belonging to the genus 
Myzomela, which has been named after the devoted companion 
of my travels {Myzomela annabellae) was obtained ; but though 
it flitted about at the flowers of the cocoanut palms, and of 
an Apocynaceous shrub just at our door, I could not succeed 
in shooting a single individual, till on the mainland I at last 
secured the one specimen that graced my collection. 

On the 20th of September the steamer was due to return ; 
but for a week we had been anxiously counting the days, for 
we had been obliged, in order to eke out our supplies, to fall 
back on roasted heads of Indian corn, which sorely tried our 
teeth. We could purchase fowls on rare- occasions only, as our 
barter articles suiting the tastes of the natives were all gone — 
it is a characteristic of the race, as I have said, to give away 
nothing, and to part with their possessions only for what they 
want at the moment, no matter if something of many times 
the value be offered them. Our stock of febrifuges, so often in 
demand, and of tea and coffee, was exhausted, and above all 
we were sadly reduced by the pernicious fever which was diffi- 
cult to combat without luxuries we could not command. 
Boats from Vordate brought in the news that the threatened 
Kaleobar attack was really about to be made, tidings which to 
our villagers seemed confirmed by the simultaneous recogni- 
tion of the great comet of 1882 in our northern sky. Extra 
guards were placed, who danced, as is their custom on such 
like occasions, round the village god night and day with a 
hideous howling chant accompanied by beating of drums 
which was equally incessant, and to our fever-strained nerves 
execrable and unbearable during the day, but perfectly 
maddening in the night. How we longed and looked for the 
steamer ! 

On the 28th, when our larder was absolutely empty, the 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 339 



sharp eyes of the natives descried at break of day a thin line 
of smoke on the horizon, and before eight o'clock the Amboina 
had steamed slowly in, and, with a rattle pleasant to our ears, 
dropped her anchor a few yards from our door. A couple of 
hours later, with our precious collections safely on board, we 
ourselves stood watching from the deck the crowd of struggling 
boats heaving in the troubled water of our screw putting back 
to the shore, and on our swarthy and most interesting friends 
gazing after us from the strand, till our little home — the 
centre round which, for the rest of our lives, will cluster the 
reminiscences of most strange and utterly uncommunicable 
thoughts and sensations — sank down behind our horizon, 
happy that some of the eager hopes with which we had landed 
amongst them a few months before had been gratified, yet feeling 
how much there was left undone of what we had wished to 
accomplish ; and as the verdure-clad shores faded from our 
view the recollection of our dangers and anxieties, which had 
been very real, vanished like an evil dream, while the intense 
pleasure — whose solidity only a naturalist can really appreciate 
— that we had derived from our wanderings amid a strange 
people, and a perfectly new fauna and flora, was henceforth 
alone to fill the retrospect of our sojourn among the Tenimber 
Islands. 

Turning to our letters and newspapers we realised how 
isolated had been our situation, when we found that England 
had begun and fought out the Egyptian war, and that we were 
out in our reckoning both of the day of the week and of the 
day of the month. 

Reversing the route we had taken in June, we arrived on 
the 7th of October in Amboina, where we received a most 
cordial welcome from Dr. and Madame Machik, now installed 
in a commodious and pleasantly situated house looking oat on 
the Bay, and in which there was at my disposal delightful 
accommodation for rearranging and preparing my collections 
for despatch to Europe. 

I should be very unmindful if I did not record here the 
more than friendly attention and care bestowed on us by both 
our hosts, during the many days of Tenimber fever— more 
violently exhibited in Amboina than in Larat — that we had to 
endure under their roof. 



540 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



APPENDIX TO PAET TV. 



I. On the Cranial Characters of the Natives of Timor-laut. By J. G. 
Garson, M.D., F.Z.S. ; Mcinb. Anthrop. Inst.; Anat. Assist. Eoyal 
College of Surgeons; Lecturer on Comparative Anatomy, Charing 
Cross Hospital. 

In the following communication I intend to direct attention to the 
characters presented by a series of skulls from Timor-laut, a group of 
small islands situated between New Guinea and Australia, collected and 
brought home by Mr. H. 0. Forbes. Before doing so, it will be well to 
recapitulate briefly the chief characters of the inhabitants of the island 
observed by Mr. Forbes, and described by him in a paper read last 
session before this institute, and published in the Journal (vol. xiii., 
p. 8, et sea.)* 

The osteological remains now to be described were obtained from the 
island of Larat, and consist of a series of eleven skulls and crania. Of 
these, nine are adult, one that of a young man of about twenty years of 
age, and one that of a child. 

Four of the skulls appear to be those of males, and six those of women. 
The skull of the child is not sufficiently developed to indicate its sex. 
The male skulls are all of a round form — broad in proportion to the 
antero-posterior length, and resemble one another in general appearance. 
Of the females, five correspond in form to the male skulls, in being short 
and broad, but the sixth differs markedly from the others, in being 
narrow antero-posteriorly in proportion to its breadth. The form of the 
child's cranium resembles closely that of this last skull. The cranium of 
the child ha§ been excluded from the various measurements and averages 
given in the subjoined table, now to be discussed, but that of the young 
man is included, as I was unwilling to diminish the series by rejecting 
it, especially as it seems to have attained its full development, except in 
a few respects which will be noted ; though I am aware that it is contrary 
to custom to include any skull in which the basilar suture is not united. 
The male and female round skulls are separated from one another, and 
the latter are grouped apart from the long narrow female skull, many of 
the characters of which are entirely different from those of the other 
females. 

Capacity. — The average cranial capacity of the four male skulls 
measured with shot according to Broca's method, is 1607 cc, or 47 cc. 

* As this has been fully done in the foregoing pages, it is unnecessary to 
recapitulate them here ; consequently, this paragraph is omitted from this 
reprint of Dr. G arson's valuable paper. — H. 0. F. 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 341 



more than that of male European skulls, the average capacity of 317 of 
which Topinard found to be 1560 cc. That of the round-headed females 
is 1,311 cc, or 64 cc. less than European female skulls, 232 of which, 
measured by Topinard, averaged 1,375 cc. While the capacity, therefore, 
of the male skulls from Timor-laut is, on an average, larger than those 
of European, that of the females is less than in Europeans of the same sex. 
The difference in capacity between males and females of Timor-laut is 296 
cc. ; that between Europeans is 185 cc. The individual range of 
capacity is considerable, one of the male skulls (No. 10) being no less 
than 220 cc. smaller than any of the others. The largest capacity, that 
of No. 4, is 1,780 cc, and the smallest 1,395 cc, that of No. 10. In the 
females the range is from 1,405 to 1,240 cc The difference, then, between 
the largest and smallest male skulls is 385 cc, and 155 cc. between those 
of females. The long-headed female has a capacity of 1,400 cc 

Cephalic Index. — In the round skulls the relative proportion of the 
breadth to the length varies little in the two sexes ; the cephalic index 
of the males averaging 88T and of the females 860. Beference to the 
table will show that the lower index of the females is chiefly caused by 
the almost undeformed cranium, No. 2, which has an index of only 78 - 9. 
All these skulls belong to Broca's class of true brachycephalic (skulls in 
which the cephalic index is over 83 - 33) except No. 2, which is sub- 
brachycephalic (between 80 - 01 and 83'33), on account of its width being 
less than, while the length is the same as that of the others. The long 
narrow female skull has an index of 71T, and belongs, therefore, to Broca's 
true dolichocephalic group. 

Height Index. — This averages about 2- higher in the male brachycephalic 
skulls than in the corresponding females, being 80"6 in the former, 
and 82 - 4 in the latter. The cephalic index of the males we found 
was higher by the same amount than that of the females. In the 
dolichocephalic female the right index is much lower than in the 
brachycephalic skulls of the same sex, a condition which the late 
Professor Eolleston found usually to obtain. The height of the skulls is in 
all instances less than the breadth, except in the female No. 2. The 
indices of height and breadth above given cannot be taken as strictly 
accurate, owing to the artificial flattening of the posterior or postero- 
lateral portion of most of the crania, but are as nearly accuiate as cir- 
cumstances will admit, and general deductions may probably be relied 
upon. 

The height in proportion to the breadth (the latter being taken as 100) 
is in the males as 9B2, and in the females as 95'6 to 100. 

Circumference. — The horizontal circumference of the brachycephalic 
skulls averages in the males 507 mm., that of the females 475 mm., while 
the transverse vertical circumference of the former is 456 mm., and of the 
latter 424-6 mm. The total longitudinal circumference averages in the 
males 501*2 mm., and. in the females 473 mm. In each of the three 
circumference measurements, therefore, the female skulls are on an 
average about 31 mm. smaller than the males. The dolichocephalic 
female shows considerable differences in the various circumferences from 
the previous skulls of the same sex. Its horizontal and total longitudinal 
circumferences are each 25 mm. greater than the average of these 
measurements in the brachycephalic skulls, while its transverse vertical 
circumference is 17*6 mm. less. The increased size of the two first 
circumferences in this skull is due to the greater antero-posterior length 
of the frontal and especially the parietal bones; the other segments being 
almost the same in both varieties of skulls. This accords with the fact 
pointed out by M. Gratiolet, that in women the elongation of the cranium 



342 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



depends essentially on the length of the temporal region, and is the 
permanent retention of a childlike character dolichocephally ; being due, 
he has shown, to a relative development of bones which varies with age. 
It is essentially occipital in the infant, temporal in the child, and frontal 
in the adult man. 

The form of the foramen magnum varies considerably, being in some 
elongated antero-posteriorly, in others almost circular. 

Onathic Index.— On an average the male skulls are mesognathous 
(having an index between 98 and 103); the brachycephalic females 
belong^to the same group. Considerable variety is exhibited individually 
by the male skulls, one being prognathous and another orthognathous ; 
the same variability is not exhibited by the females, all of them being 
mesognathous. The dolichocephalic female is prognathous. 

Malar Height. — The development of the malar bones is usually some- 
what greater in the brachycephalic skulls than in Europeans, but consi- 
derable individual variety is observable which confirms the observations of 
Mr. Forbes on living natives. The malars are small in the dolichocephalic 
female. The depression on the malar process of the maxilla or maxillo- 
malar notch, observed by Professor flower to be present in the Fijians, 
may here be seen in the skulls where the malars are most strongly 
developed. 

The Orbits.— The form of the orbits varies considerably, some being 
wider in proportion to the height than others; but the averages show 
both sexes to be mesoseme (index from 88 to 89). 

The Nasal Index. — The form of the nasal aperture presents a certain 
degree of variation, the index varying from 481 to 55'8 in the brachy- 
cephalic males, and in the females of that class from 49 to 605, the averages 
of the former being 52 and of the latter 55'3. The average index of the 
males places them at the platyrhine end of the mesorhine group (between 
48 and 53), while the females are just within the platyrhine class (above 
53). Two males and three females are mesorhine, and two males and 
two females are platyrhine. The dolichocephalic skull is mesorhine. 

The Facial angle formed by the meeting of the alveolar point of the 
ophryo-alveolar face-line and the auriculo-alveolar base line averages 70° 
in the males, and nearly G8° in the females. As differences of opinion 
may exist as to the value of the angle taken in this way I have added the 
msi-alveolar length as well as the basi-nasal and basi-alveolar measure- 
ments. With these three measurements the relation of the alveolar point 
to the cranio-facial axis of Huxley, or basi-nasal line upon which the 
angle of gnathism depends, can easily be calculated, and the facial angle 
thus formed aptly compared with the gnathic index. A further reason for 
the nasi-alveolar length finding a place in the table is that some anato- 
mists, without good reason, consider it to be preferable to the ophryo- 
alveolar length as the measurement of facial height, owing to its being 
more definite than the latter. 

Regional characters of the cranial portion. — The glabella is feebly 
developed in both sexes, being represented by Nos. 0*1 of Broca's des- 
criptive outlines, except in one of the females in whom it equals No. 2. 
The superciliary ridges are likewise feebly marked, the rebeing usually 
only a slight boss projecting obliquely upwards and outwards from the 
glabella, but not extending any distance over the orbits. The forehead 
recedes slightly, but the degree of recession varies somewhat, being more 
marked in two brachycephalic females than in any of the others ; while 
in the dolichocephalic females it is the most perpendicular. Tubera are 
well marked on the parietal bones of the young male skull, and are 
associated with a narrow base, as is seen by the bi-auricular breadth 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 343 



being less than that of any of the other males. These conditions are 
usually concomitant, as was shown by Professor "Wiesbach, and are 
indications of a skull not having attained its full development, as in this 
case, or of the permanent retention of a child-like character when occurr- 
ing in the fully adult skull, as is not uncommon in women. Epiteric 
bones are present in three of the female crania, Nos. 1, 7. and 9. In the 
male skull No. 10 the squamosals articulate with the frontal, the aire 
sphenoid not intervening between them, as is usually the case. The 
zygomatic arches can be seen in most instances projecting beyond the 
outline of the cranium in the fronto- parietal region — that is to say, the 
skulls are usually phamozygous, though more so in some cases than in 
others. In order to estimate the amount of zygomatic projection, or 
the relation of the maximum cranio-facial breadth to the fronto-parietal 
breadth at the stephanion, Topinard has suggested the formation of an 
index from the bi-zygomatic and bi-stephanic breadths, in place of the 
angle of Quatrefages, which can only be measured by means of a compli- 
cated goniometer. Taking the former breadth as 100, 1 find that the bi- 
zygostephanic index of the brachycephalic male skulls averages 876, and 
of the female 87"4, and of the dolichocephalic female 9P2. 

In order to compare these averages with those of other races, I have 
worked this out in the series of Andamanese skulls and of Fijians pub- 
lished by Professor Flower in the volumes of the "Journal of the 
Anthropological Institute " for 1879 and 1880, and the following are the 
results obtained : — 

B i-zygostejihanic Index. 

Andamanese .. 12 males, 883; 1 2 females, 915. 
Timor-laut .. 3 „ 87-«; 5 „ 87-4. 
Fijian .. .. G „ 80-1; 5 „ 85 -5. 

Before its value can be rightly estimated it will require to be worked 
out in a much more extended series. It may be stated, however, that 
crania with a bi-zygostephanic index of under 90 are phsenozygns. The 
development of the inion is usually represented by Broca's descriptive 
figures 1 or 2. Though not very prominent the inion and the inner or mesial 
extremities of the superior curved lines are well developed and rugged, a 
condition to which, Professor Thane kindly reminded me, Professor Ecker 
has attributed considerable importance as being indicative of a simian 
character, these ridges being the representative in man of the crests so 
well marked in the skull of the orang-outan and other anthropomorphous 
apes. The sutures are, as a rule, simple, varying in the series from 1 to 
3 of Broca's numbers, both in regard to complexity and degree of oblite- 
ration. In the dolichocephalic female the frontal suture is metopic 
(see p. 345), but in none of the other skulls does this condition obtain. 
The wormian bones are small in most instances. All the brachycephalic 
skulls of both sexes exhibit more or less flattening in the occipital or 
parieto-occipital region, such as would be produced by laying an infant, 
without any soft material under the head, in a cradle, like that exhibited 
here by Mr. Forbes from Timor-laut. The dolichocephalic female and 
child's skulls show no sign of flattening. The basilar suture is entirely 
obliterated in all instances except in the youth ; no abnormality is to be 
observed in any case in the under surface of the tranium. 

Regional characters of facial portion. — In most instances the face has a 
flat appearance. The' axes of the orbits are in some instances more 
horizontal than in others. The inter-orbital portion, though not showing 
great variation in actual width, differs in form on account of the projec- 
tion of the nasal bones being greater, and the ascending process of the 



344 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



maxillaries being flatter, in some instances than in others. It occurred 
to* me that this variation might be expressed by measuring the angle for- 
med by the nasal bones and ascending processes of the maxillaries at the 
level immediately below that of the dacryon. This measurement, which I 
propose to call the nasi-maxiUary angle, is different in its object from that 
of M. dc Mercjkowsky, which ascertains only the projection of the nasal 
bones or maxillary processes. 

The outline of nose is represented by Broca's descriptive numbers 
1 and 3. The first of these indicates a nose with a low bridge turned up- 
wards at the tip ; the latter a straight nose with a higher bridge than the 
other. We have therefore identified on the skulls the two forms of nose 
observed by Mr. Forbes in the living subject. As a rule the straight nose 
is elevated at the root, and the naso-maxillary angle is higher than in the 
hooked nose, which is flat at the root. The nasi-malar angle is high in 




NORM.E FRONTALIS ET LATERALIS OF THE MALE BRACHYCEPHALIC SKULL, NO. 4. 
(WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.) 



all instances. The lower margin of the nasal aperture is usually well de- 
fined, but slopes slightly in ?ome instances into the alveolar portions of 
the maxillse. The nasal spine is feebly developed, being represented by 
Nos. 1 and 2 of Broca. The alveolar portion of the maxillae has become 
so atrophied after loss of the teeth in three skulls (one male and two 
females) as to be reduced to almost a narrow rim of bone; in these the 
alveolar height has not been measured. A correspondingly atrojmied 
condition likewise obtains in the alveolar border of the respective mandi- 
bles. In the others in which the teeth were complete at the time of death 
this portion of the face is short ; the measurements, however, indicate 
a greater estimate of the vertical distance between the floor of the nose 
and the alveolar plane, as in most instances there is a considerable degree 
of alveolar prognathism. The maxillaB are broad in comparison to their 
length, especially in the case of the male No. 10, where the maxillary or 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 



345 



palatal index is no less than 1407. The palate is therefore markedly of 
the parabolic form. In this sknll it is also very high. The maxillae are 
narrowest iti the dolichocephalic female. In all cases the posterior edge 
of the vomer slopes considerably forwards as well as downwards. 

The characters of the mandible can be only imperfectly studied, it 
being lost in some instances and much atrophied in others. The chief 
character seems to be the absence of prominence of the chin : the sym- 
phesial angle is consequently high, approaching a right angle. 

Dentition is normal in all the skulls except the male No. 4, in which the 
last upper molars, or wisdom teeth, are absent from non-development. 
The skull is known, however, to Mr. Forbes to have belonged to a man be- 
yond middle age. The last molars have not been fully acquired in the skull 
of the youth No. 11. In size the teeth are large but not abnormally so, 
and are stained black in two of the male skulls, Nos. 4 and 10, and in the 
female skulls Nos. 7 and 1. In the male No. 10, the upper incisors and 




NORM.E FRONTALIS ET LATERALIS OF THE FEMALE DOLICHOCEPHALIC SKULL, NO 1. 
(WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.) 

canines have been filed away on the anterior surface, and stained black, 
making them more spade-like. This custom of deforming the teeth, and 
staining them, is practised very commonly in Java and Birma, and else- 
where. The incisors and canines being absent in the other male skulls, it 
is impossible to say whether these teeth were deformed in them also. 
In the females there is a trace of a similar deformation in No. 2, but the 
filed teeth are not stained artificially. Grinding down the anterior upper 
and lower teeth horizontally, and staining them, seems to have been 
practised in Nos. 1 and 9. In the other skulls the teeth have been lost. 

Relation of the inhabitants of Timor-taut to those of adjacent countries. — 
That the skulls just described are not those of a pure race is very evident. 
Two very distinct types can be made out, namely, the brachycephalic and 
the dolichocephalic, the former greatly predominating in number. Both 
from the information Mr. Forbes has given us as to their appear; nice, and 
from the skulls themselves, there is no difficulty in recognising a strong 



346 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Malay clement in the population. The male skull, No- 4, and the female, 
No. 6, are typically Malayan in their characters, especially in possessing 
large open rounded orbits and smooth forehead, the superciliary ridges 
and glabella being almost entirely absent. The other brachycephalic 
skulls, though not presenting such a striking affinity, agree more or less 
with the type, but give evidence of mixed characters. 'Ihe dolicho- 
cephalic skull is, on the other hand, markedly of the Papuan type, and 
coi responds so closely as to be undistinguishable from two crania 
obtained twenty miles inland from Port Moresby, New Guinea, in the 
College of Surgeons' Museum, also from another from the Solomon 
Islands. Along with this form of shell Mr. Forbes informs me is 
associated frizzly hair and dark skin. 

The examination of the cranial characters of the inhabitants of Timor- 
laut as illustrated by the skulls before us shows that the peopling of this 
island forms no exception to what is usually found in the various groups 
of islands in the Polynesian Archipelago. From its close proximity to 
Kew Guinea, perhaps more of the Papuan element might have been 
expected. 

The relative proportions of the two races in any particular place seem 
to vary considerably, however, and till more is known of the history of this 
part of the world, the distribution of its inhabitants will not be understood. 
Valuable contributions to our knowledge of this vexed question have been 
made by the writings of M. Quatrefagts, Professors Flower and Keane, Mr. 
Staniland Wake, and others. Series of skulls and skeletons like the 
present from different districts, with accounts of the inhabitants, aro 
always valuable additions, and assist materially to unravel the ethnology 
of this interesting part of the globe. 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 



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A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



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IN TIMOR-LAUT. 353 



Notes ox the Table of Measurements. 

All the measurements given in the preceding table correspond to 
those recommended by Broca in the " Instructions Craniologiques " 
(Paris, 1875), except the following, some of -which are not given in that 
work : — 

The transverse arcs. — These are measured with the taps from the point 
on the ridge at the posterior root of the zygoma immediately above the 
middle of the external auditory meatus, where the ridge is crossed by 
the auriculo-bregmatic line (the courbe sus-auriculare of Broca) over the 
respective parts of the cranium, to the corresponding point on the 
opposite temporal bone. 

Naso-alveolar length. — From the nasion to the alveolar point. 

Palatine region. — The maxillary length is measured from the alveolar 
point to the middle of a line drawn across the hinder borders of the 
maxillary tuberosities. This is easily done by stretching a piece of fine 
wire across the back of the mouth, the wire resting on each side in the 
groove between the pterygoid and the tuberosity. The width is taken 
between the outer borders of 1hc alveolar arch immediately above the 
middle of the second molar tooth. 

Facial angle.— The angle formed by the meeting of the auriculo-alveo- 
lar base line with the ophryo-alvcolar face line at the alveolar point 
measured with Broca's median goniometer. 

Nasi-malar angle.— The angle formed by the nasal bones and the ex- 
ternal margins of the orbits at a point a little below the fronto-malai 
articulation. 

Nasi-maxillary angle. — Explained in the text, page 344. 

Basilar angle — This is the angle N B Y of the " Instructions," p. 92, 
or the naso-basio-opisthial angb. 

Bi-zygostephanic Index. — Defined in the text, page 313. 

Conoroid height. — From the gonion to the top of the coronoid process. 

Oonio-syrnphesial height measured with the calipers. 

The size of the glabella, nasal bones, and spine, inion, wormian bones, 
and wear of teeth, are indicated by Broca's descriptive numbers given 
in the " Instructions." 

Explanation of Plate (pp. 344, 345). 

All the figures represent the skulls with the alveolo-condylar plane 
horizontal. 

The photozincography were reduced from drawings by Mr, J. G. 
Goodchild, the outlines of Hie skulls from which they are taken having 
been previously geometrically projected by means of Broca's stereograph 
by myself. 

This paper is reproduced from the ' Journal of the Anthropological 
Institute ' for May, 1 884. ( H.O.F.) 



354 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



II.— LIST OF PLANTS FKOM TIMOK-LAUT. 

Compiled from the Authors Herbarium, as determined at the Royal Gardens, 
New, along with a small Collection made by Native Collectors employed 
by Resident Riedel. 

Clematis .'p. 

Anamirt.i Cocculus, W. & A. 
Ocbrcearpus ovalifolius, T. And. ? 
Sida humilis W. var. repens. 

rhombifo!ia, L. 
Abutilon indicum, Don. 

graveolens, W. & A. 
Hibiscus surattensis, L. 

tetrapbyllus, Roxb. 
Gossypium barb'ulense, L. 
Tbespesia ptipulnea, Corr. 
Sterculia fcetida, L. 
Melochia odorata, Forst. 

velutina, Bedd. var. gla- 

brata. 
pubescens, Bl. 
Corchorns tiilocularis, L. 
Murray a exotica, L. var. 
Glycosmis pentaphylla, Corr. 

sapindoides, Lindl. 
Tristellateia australasica, A. K. 
Owenia (may be O. cerasift-ra, F. M.). 
Calopbyllum Inophyllum, L. 
Dodonsea viscosa, L. 
Vitis coriacea, Miq. 
Stroinbosia sp. 
Erioglossuni edule, Bl. 
Flemingia slrobilifera, R. Br. 
Desraotlium umbellatum, DC. 
Pougamia glabra, Veut. 
Phaseolus spp. 
Mucuna (Stizolobiutn) sp. 
Canavalia obtusifolia, DC. 
Vigna lutea, A. Gr. 
Dolicbos Lablab, L. 
Cajanus iudicus, Spr. 
Indigofera unifoliata. 
Dichrostachys nutans? 
Cynometra ramiflora, L. 

bijuga, Sp. 
Cassia javanica, L. 

abita, L. 
Cajsalpinia pulcbcrrima, Sw. 

Nuga, Ait. 
Bauhinia Blancoi, Bentb. 
Pempbis acidula, Forst. 
Bruguiera earyopliylloides, Bl. 
Luninitzera coccineu, W. & A. 
Peltopborum ferrugineum, Btb 
Eugenia javanica, Lam. 

aff. javanicse. 
Luffa cylindrica, Koem. 
Momordica Charautia, L. 



Zebneria atf. mucronatse. 
Delarbrea sp. 

Sesuvium Portulacastrum, L. 
Carapa moluccensis, L. 
Portulaca oleracea, L. 
Bryophyllum calycinum, Salisb. 
Randia spp. 
Ixora sp. 

aff. I. timorensis, Dene. 
Psycbotria sp. 
MorLnda citrifolia, L. 
Galium Roxburgbianum, Benth. 
Vernonia cinerea, Loss. 
Blumea membranacea, DC. 
Wedclia biflora, DC. 
Bidens bipinnata, L. 
Diospyros maritima, Bl. 
Maesa sp. 

Jasminum lancifolium, Dene. 
Dischidia sp. 
Marsdenia sp. 

Gymnema vel Sarcolobus sp. 
Mitreoia oldenlandioides, Wall. 
Alstonia spectabilis, Br. 
Tabernsemontana parviflora, Poir. 

orientalis, It. Br. 
Cordia subcordata, Lam. 
Ipomcea Turpethum, L. 

cymosa, R. & Schult. 
Hewittia bicolor, "W. & A. 

Convolvulus parviflorus, Vahl. 

Tournefoitia sarmentosa, Lam. 

Solanum verbascifolium, L. 

Lycopeisicum esculentum, Mill. 

Physalis minima, L. 

Datura alba, Nee3. 

Capsicum frutescons, L. 

Bucbnera angusta. 

Leucas decemdentata, Sm. 

Coleus scutellarioides, Benth. 

Ocimum canum, L. 

Hyptis spicigera, Lam. 

Piemna obtusifolia, R. Br. 

Vitex trifolia, L. 

aff. V. Negundo, L. 

Clerodendron longiflorum, Dene, vel 
sp. aff. 

Barleria Prionotis, L. 

Dilivaria ilicil'olia, Jacq. 

A sy stasia (an) chelonoides, Nees. 

Hypoestes floribunda, P. Br. var. 

Eranthemum sp. ( ? variabile.) 

Deeriugia celosioides, R. Br. 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 



355 



iErua scandens, Wall., vel velutina, 
Miq. 
sanguinolenta, Bl. 
Aniarantus caudatus, L. 
Salsola Tragus, L. 
Myristica insipidu, R. Br. 
Aristolochia sp. 
Piper sp. aff. P. canino, Dietr. 
Loranthus (Dendrophthoe) sp. aff. L. 

rigido, Wall. 
Maniliot utilissima, Pohl. 
Acalypha indica, L. 
Phyllanthus diversifolius, Midi. Arg. 

vel sp. aff. 
F.xcsecaria Agallocha, Midi. Arg. 
Mallotus albus, Midi. Arg. 

repandus, Mull. Arg. 
Trewia sp. 

Sponia timorensis, Dene. 
Fatua pilo.sa, Gaud. 

lanceolata. Dene. 
Pipturus velutinus, Wed I. 
Fleurya interrupta, Gaud. 



Pouzolzia pentandra, Benn. 
Urostigma sp. 

Ficus sp. aff. aeantbopbylla!, jMiq. 
Balanophora sp. 

Dendrobium antennatum, Lindl. 
Phalamopsi:?, Fitzg. 
Dioscorea spp. 
Cordyline tt-rminalis, Ktb. 
Coinmelina nudirlor.i, L. 
Cocos Ducifera, L. 
Borassus flabelliformis, L 
Metroxylon lseve, Mart. 
Pandanus sp. 
Aroidese spp. 
Cyperus pennatus, Lain. 
Setaria italica, Beauv. 
Sorghum vulgare, Pers. 
Polypodium irioides, Lam. 
Pteris tripartita, Lam. 
Asplenium gaicatum. Lam. 
Vittaria elongata, 8\v. 
Lycopodium carinaturo, Des. 
Pblegmaria, L. 



Ill— LTST OF THE BIEDS OF TIMOK-LAUT.* 

In order to give as correct a list as possible of the Avifauna of the 
Tenimber Islands, I have reproduced the original descriptions of my 
collections given by Dr. Sclater, in the ' Proceedings ' of the Zoological 
Society, (1883, pp. 48, 194). I have also included the species recently 
described by Dr. Meyer, from specimens obtained by Mr. Eeidel's hunters, 
in the paper read by him at the Ornithological Congress in Vienna in 
1881, entitled, " Neue unci unbeniigend bekennte Vogel Nester und Eier 
aus dem Ostindischcn Archipel im KOnigl. Zool. Mus. zu Dresden." 
Some of these species were also met with by myself, but I have in many 
cases not been able to recognise their distinctness from other previously 
described forms. As many of these differences of opinion have been the 
subject of discussion between Dr. Meyer and myself, I have thought it as 
well to reproduce my published remarks in the present appendix. 



I. ACCIPITRES. 

1. Astur albiventris, Salvad. 

Urospizias albiveiitris, Sal v., Meyer, loc. cit. 

2. Halletus leucogasteu, Gm. 

Cuncuma leucogaster, Gm., Meyer, loc. cit. 

3. Haliastur girrenera, V. 

4. Baza subcristata, Gould. 

5. Pandion leucocephalus, Gould. 
G. Cerchneis moluccensis, H. & J. 

Tinnunculus moluccensis, Sclater, loc. cit. 
7. Ninox forbesi, Sclater, loc. cit. 

Supra rufescenti-brunnea, fere unicolor, in alarum tectricibus et scapulari- 
bus fasciolis albis variegata ; fronte et superciliis albis ; alarum 

* See Reports of the Timor-laut Committee in Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1881, p. 197, 
18S2, p. 275, and 1883. 



350 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



remigibus ierreno-brunneis, nigro transfasciatia ; shbtus dorso concolor, 
mento alhicante, ventre albo transfasciato ; tarsis, omnino plumosis, rum 
suhalaribus rufis unicoloribus ; alarum et caudcc pagina inferiore pall ide 
corylino-brunnea nigro regulariter transfasciata ; rostri nigri apice 
flavicante; digitis fuscis setis obtedis : Jong, tota 110, alee 74, caudcc 
4'5, tarsi 1'3. 
Bab. Lutur, Timor-laut. 

Obs. Sp. quoad colores N. bantu maximc affiuis, seel facie alba fasciis 
ventris albis, et alis subtus nigro vittatis diversa. 

The single specimen of this Owl is a male, obtained at Lutur on 
August 9, 1881. It is noted : Irides golden ; bill pale cinereous ; feet 
l>ale yellow, covered with bristly hairs ; soles of feet nearly orange." 

I have dedicated this apparently distinct species to its discoverer, 
Mr. Henry 0. Forbes, F.Z.S. 

8. Strfx sororcula, Sclater. 

Supra terreno-fusca flavicante variegata, et punctis rotundis albis regulari- 
ter aspersa ; disco faciali amplo albo, margine nigr leant i-brunneo 
circumdato ; macula anteoculari nigricante; remigibus fuscis, nigro 
transfasciatis, in pojoniis extemis fulvo maculatis et albido vermicu- 
latis; cauda, nigricante, tceniis quinque fulvis transfasciata et albido 
vermimlata; subtus alba, prcecipue in ventre maculis rotundis nigris 
fulvo cinctis aspersa, subaJaribus ventre concoloribus ; tarsis postice fere 
omnino plumidis obtedis, antice digitos versus setis paucis obsitis ; 
rostro et pedibus camels : long, tota 11"5, alee 8'5, caudee 3'5, tarsi 2"2. 
Hab. Larat, ins. Tenimberensem. 

Obs. Species novce-Jiollandice affinis et ejusdem formse, sed crassitie 
valde minore, tarsorura plumis brevioribus et dorsi punctis rotundiori- 
bus distinguenda 

Mr. Sharpe, who has kindly examined the single skin of this Owl sent, 
is of opinion that it belongs to a species allied to Slrix novce-hollandiee, 
but easily recognisable by its inferior size. 

The example was obtained on Larat on the 21th of September, 18S2, 
and is labelled : — " Female : irides dark brown ; bill, legs, and feet flesh- 
colour ; legs covered with flesh-coloured bristles." 

II. PSITTACI. 

9. Takygnathus subaffinis, Sclater. 

Flavicanti-viridis, in pileo et capitis laterlbus prasinus, in dorso postico 
cceruleo lavatus ; alls viridibus ; scapidarium apicibus, campterio atari 
extus et tectricum majorum marginibus cceruleis ; secundariorum tedri- 
cibus flavo marginatis ; cauda supra viridi, apice flavicante, subtus 
obscure aurulenta ; subalaribus viridibus ccerideo mixtis, alarum pagina 
inferiore nigricante ; rostro ruberrimo ; pedibus nigris ; long, tota 13'0, 
alee 9 5, caudee 6"0. 

Hub. Larat, ins. Tenimberensem. 

Obs. Species T. affini maxime affinis, sed dorso flavicante viriJi vix 
c&ruleo lavato, diversa. 

The single specimen is a female, obtained in Larat on August 8, 1882. 
" Irides cream-yellow, with inner ring of pale gamboge." 

10. Geoffroius keiensis, Salvad. 

G. timorlaoensis, Meyer, loc. cit. 



The Geoffroius determined by Dr. Sclater to be G. Jceyensls (Salv.) 
has been elevated into a new species, G. timorlaoensis by Dr. Meyer. 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 357 



He admits that the separation is based on very minute differences, 
which, however, he believes will be found constant. " Geoffroius [timor- 
laoensis^, G. keyensi, Salva., simillimus, sed minor et primarise extimse 
pogonio externo virescenti diversus." On comparing the Timor-laut 
birds with Ke specimens in the British Museum determined by Count 
Salvadori, the case stands as follows: — Timor-laut skins vary from 
210-290 millim., while G. keyensis (Salv.) ranges from 235-255 millim. 
Length of wing in the former 165-170 millim., and in (/. keyensis 
(Salv.) 175-185 millim. The tail is shorter in G. timorlaoensis than in 
G. keyensis ; while the tarsus agrees in both. In Timor-laut speci- 
mens the external web of the outermost primary, where in the upper 
portion the colour is blue, and in the lower green, exactly agrees 
with a specimen from Ke, of the Challenger collection, determined as 
G. keyensis by Salvadori. Both these are males. A female from Ke has 
the same it gion of this feather blue throughout its length ; ■while a 
female from Timor-laut has a very narrow vellowish edge to the green- 
blue margin of the primary. A female obtained by the Challenger natu- 
ralist?, also determined by Salvadori as G. keyensis, is identical in colo- 
ration, while, lastly, the colour of the under surfaces of the wings can 
scarcely be detected to differ. It would appear, therefore, so far as the 
skins from Timor-laut and Ke, in the British Museum and in my own 
collection, afford material for forming an opinion, that these differential 
characters will not be found to have the constancy that Dr. Meyer has 
expected. The wing measurements certainly are less in Timor-laut 
specimens. It is probable that the differences in coloration are due 
to age only, and are not sufficient to separate the Ke from the Tenimber 
birds. [H. O. F.] 



11. Eclectus kiedeli, Mever, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 917. Sclater, loc. cit. 

PJ. XXVI. 
Dr. A. B. Meyer has accurately described the female of this fine 
species. 

All the green skins are marked " $ ," and all the red " $ ." The male 
not yet having been described, I give short diagnoses of both sexes. 

$ . Lxte viridis, capite clariore, subcaudalibus flavicante tinclus ; sub- 
cdaribus et hypochondriis coccineis ; campterio cdari et remigum prima- 
riorum marginibus extends et secundariorum (extus dorso concolorum) 
apicibus cierideis ; alarum pagina inferiore nigra ; cauda supra viridi 
dorso concolori, subtus nigra, apice plus quam semipollicari abrupte 
flavo ; rectrice una utrinque extirna in pogonio exteriore aeruleo notato ; 
rostro super iore rubro, apice flavicante; inferiore nigra: long, tota 
11*8, aim 8*7, caudx 4 "6. 
$. Rubro punicea, capite et corpore subtus coccineis; crisso flavo ; cu»/}>- 
terio atari et remigum primariorum margin ibus cxternis csertdeis; cauda 
supra ad basin viridi in rubrum transeunte, ad apicem lateflava, subtus 
flava ad basin nigricante ; rostro nigro ; crassitie paulo minore. 
Hob. insulus Tenimberenses. 

Of the four skins in the present collection, two males (green) 'arc from 
Larat, and one male and one female from Lutur. 

As I have remarked (P. Z. S. 1883, p. 49), there can be no longer any doubt 
that Eclectus riedeli is quite a distinct species of the genus, characterised 
by the broad well-defined yellow tail-end of the male, and by the absence 
of the blue on the back of the neck and on the belly in the female. 
Neglecting E. westcrmanni and Eclectus cornelia, of which we do not know 



358 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

the opposite sexes or the localities, we are now acquainted with both 
sexes and the patriae of four species of these anomalous Parrots, dis- 
tributed as follows : — 

(1) E. pcctoralis (Salvad. op. cit. p. 197), of New Guinea and the Aru 
and Ke islands, extending to New Britain, New Ireland, and the Solomon 
Islands. 

(2) E. roratus (Salvad. p. 206), of the island group of Halmahera, i.e. 
Halmahera, Ternate, Batchian, Morty, and Obi. 

(3) E. cardinalis (Salvad. p. 210), of the island group of Ceram, i.e. 
Ceram, Amboina, and Boru. 

(4) E. riedeli, of the Tenimber group. 

The males of these four species are very similar in colouring; but with 
the help of Dr. Salvador's diagnosis of the first three we may separate 
them as follows : 

A. Majores : cauda supra caeruleo variegata. 

Cauda minus cserulea ...... (1) pectoralis. 

Cauda magis cserulea ...... (2) roratus. 

B. Minores : cauda supra viridi, subtus nigra. 

Cauda apice angusto flavicante .... (3) cardinalis. 
Cauda) fascia apicali distincte flava . . . (4) riedeli. 

The female of E. riedeli, as already mentioned, is very easily distin- 
guished from the same sex of the first three species by the absence of 
the blue neck-band and of the blue on the abdomen. As regards its 
yellow under tail-coverts and yellow tail-end, it comes nearest to E. 
roratus. 

12. EOS RETICULATA, S. Mull. 

13. Neopsittacus etjteles, T. 

14. Cacatua sanguinea, Gould. 

To my great surprise this Cacatua is not C. citrinocristata, as I had 
suspected. The original specimens of C. sanguinea were obtained at Port 
Es&mgton in N. Australia ; so that its occurrence in the Timor daut group 
is not after all so very remarkable. 

III. Picaki^;. 

15. Sauropatis chloris, Bodd. 

16. S. australaslze and var. minor, Meyer, n. var. 

17. S. sancta, V. & H. 

IV. Passeres. 

18. Piezorhynchus castus, Sclater. 

Monarcha castus, Scl. P. Z. S. 1883, loc. sup. cit. 

Supra niger ; pileo et regione auriculari albis, fronle et taenia nucham 
cingente nigris circumdatis ; dorso summo taeniae, nuchali proximo, 
uropygio et tectricibus alarum minoribus cum scapularium marginibus 
externis albis ; subtus alius, gutture nigro, maculis tribus albis omato ; 
cauda alba, rectricibus tribus externis albo late terminatis ; subalaribus 
et remigum pogoniis internis albis ; rostri plumbei tomiis albicantibus ; 
pedibus plumbeis : long, tota 57, alee 2'7, caudce 2'8. 

Hob. Lutur, Timor-la at. 

Obs. Affinis M. leucoti, sed gula nigra distinctus. 

The single example is marked "Male: irides reddish brown; bill 
lavender; legs and feet ditto ; September 1882." 



IW TIMOR-LAUT. 359 





Heteranax. Sharpe, gen. nov. (hepo<; = alter, ofvaf =rex) is closely allied 
to the Australian genus Sizura ; but the bill is narrower, less flattened 
and strongly compressed, so that it is higher than broad at the notrils. 

19. Heteranax mundus, Sclater. 

Monarcha mundus, Scl. P. Z. S., 1883, loc. cit. 
Supra obscure cinereus, fronte lato, capitis lateribus et tectricibus alarum 
totis nigris ; subtus albus, mento et plaga 
gulae media nigris; cauda nigra, rectiicum 
quatuor lateraliwm apicibus Jatis aibis ; 
subalaribus aibis, remigum pagina inferiore 
cinerea; rostro compresso, colore plumbeo, 
gonyde ascendente ; pedibus nigris ; long, 
tota 6'0, ake 32, caudce 27. 
Hab. Ins. Tenimberenses, Larat et Yamdena. 
This species seems to be allied to M. moro- 
tensis, M. bernsteini and M. nigrimentum, but 
has an unusually compressed bill, of which DPPEB srRFACE ^ppeb surface 
the gonys is slightly curved upwards. « ZnZ. P. ST 

20. Monarciia nitidus, Salvadori. (with permission of council 

21. Kuipidura hamadryas, Sclater. OF ZOOL. soc.) 
Supra castanea, in capite postico et cervice magis fuscescens, fronte dorso 

concolore ; subtus pall ide cervina, torque guttural i nigro ; gula alba; cdis 
caudaque nigricantibus, Mis rufo anguste marginatis ; hujus reclricibus 
externis cinerascente albo late terminates; rostro et pedibus nigris: long. 
tota 5'7, alee 2 - 3, caudce 3'2. 
IJab. Larat, ins. Tenimberensem. 

Obs. Proxima R. dryadi (Gould, B. N. G. pt. ii. pi. 11), sed cervice 
postica rufescente nee fusca et alarum tectricibus rufo marginatis, 
dignoscenda. 

22. Ehipidura fueco-rufa, Sclater. 

Sup>ra obscure terreno-fusca, in dorso rufescenti tincta ; alis nigricantibus, 
tectricum minorum apticibus et secundariorum marginibus externis late 
rufis; subtus rufa, mento et gutture toto ad medium pectus cdbis ; sub- 
alaribus rufis; remigum marginibus internis fulvis ; caudce nigricantis 
rectricibus tribus externis totis et parts proximi apicibus rufis ; rostro et 
pedibus nigris. Long, tota 7'0, alee 3'3, caudce 3"4. 
$ . Mari similis. 

Hab. insulas Tenimberenses Larat, Molu et Lutur. 
Obs. Sp. rostro robusta lato, cauda parum graduata fusco et rufo 
bipartita insignis. 

There are 14 specimens of this apparently new and very distinct 
Rhipidura in the collection, from the tbree localities above mentioned. 
The irides are marked " dark brown," and the legs and feet " black." 

The bill is broad and robust, and the rectrices but slightly graduated, 
the external being only about 0-4 inch shorter than the middle pair ; so 
that the species would appear to come in the same division as Nos. 12 
and 13 of Count Salvadori's list. 

23. Ehipidura opistherythra, Sclater. 

Supra cinerascco-fusca, dorso postico castaneo-rufa ; Ion's albidis; alarum 
nigricantium marginibus externis ru/escentibus ; subtus pallide fulva, 
gutture albo, crisso castaneo, hypochondriis rufescenti lavatis ; caudce 
elongatce et valde graduate rectricibus rufescentihiiH. supra castaneo extus 
marginatis ; rostro superiore nigro, inferiore ad basin et pedtbui « Hidis : 
long, tota 67, alee 3*4, caudce rectr. med. 3*8, cxt. 2"5, tarsi 0-9. 



360 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Hab. Insulas Tenimberenses Larat et Maru. 

Obs. Sp. gutture albo et dorso postico et crisso castaneis, sicut videtur, 
facile dignoscendo. 

The two specimens of this species in the colle3tion are both marked as 
$ ; but the male would probably not differ in coloration. " Irides dark 
brown ; upper mandible sooty brown, lower mandible same at top, but 
pale flesh colour at base; feet lavender pink." 

This species belongs to the section with small bill, and the tail- 
feathers much graduated, the outer pair being 1-3 in. shorter than the 
middle pair. Below, the tail is pale, rufous, the inner webs of the 
rectrices passing into blackish. Above, the outer tail-feathers are 
margined externally at their bases with the chestnut-red of the rump. 

21. Mtiagea fulviventris, Sclater. 

Supra plumbea, capite et dorso nitore cceruleo tinctis ; alls et cauda fusco- 
nigricantibus ; subtus saturate castaneo-rufa, abdomine et subalaribus 
fulvis ; remigum marginibus interior ibus alb leant ibus ; rostro et pedibus 
nigris : Jong, iota 5'8, alee 2 - 7, cauda; 2 - 7. 
Hab. Larat, ins. Tenimberensem. 

Obs. Proxima M. rufigulx ex Timor, sed ventre et subalaribus fulvis 
distinguenda. 

"Irides dark brown, bill lavender- blue, legs and feet black:" The 
type was obtained in Larat on August 2nd, 1882 ; and others later. 

25. Microeca hemixantha, Sclater. 

Supra flavicanti-ollvacea ; alls caudaque fuscis dorsi colore marginatis, 

loris et linea superciliari obsoleta flavidis ; macula auriculari fusca ; 

subtus flava, remigum marginibus intemis albidis ; subalaribus flav is ; 

rostrifusci mandibida infer iore pallida ; pedibus nigris: long, tota 4 "8 

alas 2 '9, caudal 2*1. 
77a 6. Larat et Lutur. 

Obs. Species Pcecilodryadi jjapuanse, quoad colores, fere similis, sed, ut 
videtur, generi Microzcee appohenda. 

26. Artamides unimodus, Sclater. 
Graucalus unimodus, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 55. 

The collection contained two ma'es and three females of this species. 
The sexes are not quite similar, as wul be seen from the subjoined 
diagnoses. 

$ Cinereus ; fronte, loris et capitis lateribus cum gutture toto ad medium 
pectus ajneo-nigris ; alls et cauda nigris illis cinereo extus marginatis ; 
subalaribus pallide isabellinis ; remigum pagina infer iore albicanti- 
cinerea ; rostro et pedibus nigris : long, tota 13 "5, alas, 7 '3, caudce 6 "5, 
tarsi 1 • 3. 
9 Mari similis, sed paulum obscurior et colore nigro nisi in loris carens ; 

crassitie paulo minore. 
Hab. Larat, ins. Tenimberensem. 

Obs. Species Graucalo cxruleo-griseo affinis, sed colore corporis cineras- 
centiore et remigibus intus non albis distinguenda. 

27. A. timorlaoensis, Meyer, in ' Zeit. f. die Ges. Ornith.' 1884, p. 10. 

28. Graucalus melanops, V. & H. 

29. Lalage mcesta, Sclater. 

Supra sericeo-nigra ; superciliis brevibus et uropygio albis; alis nigris, 
tectricibus minoribus et majoribus et secundariis albo late terminatis ; 
corpore subtus, subalaribus et remigum pogoniis intemis ad basin omnino 



IN TIM OS- LAUT. 361 



albis ; cauda nigra, rectricibus duabus externis albo terminatis ; rostro et 
pedibus nigris: long, tota G*2, alee 3 '7, caudce 3*3. 
Bab. Inss. Teniniberenses. 

Obs. Affinis L. airo-virenti et L. tricolor i, sed superciliis curtis albis 
dividenda. 

30. Artamus leucogasteb, Val. 

A. musschenbroeki, Meyer, loc. sup. cit. 
Hob. Larat, ins. Tenimberensern. 



Artamus musschenbroeki, is the name proposed by Dr. Meyer for the 
Timor-laut Wood-Swallow, which has been determined by Dr. Sclater as 
A. leucogaster, Val. (P. Z. S. 1883, pp. 51 and 200). Of the Artamus from 
Dr. Meyer's identical locality I have in my own collection three specimens. 
I have examined carefully seventeen others from different localities, in the 
very long series in the British Museum derived from Celebes, the Philip- 
pines, Sumatra, Java, Lorn bock, Flores, Timor, Batjian, Burn, Ualmaheira, 
Goram, Aru, Batanta, and from N. Australia. The species in the Dresden 
Museum from the underlined localities are admitted by Dr. Meyer to 
beloDg to A. leucogaster. It is impossible to separate my Timor-laut 
skins from specimens collected in Zebu by the Challenger Expedition, 
and determined by Lord Tweeddale (P. Z S., 1877, pp. 511-545). The 
colour in both is absolutely the same. Lord Tweeddale, however, remarks 
on the difference of dress — "one in which the upper plumage is of a 
light bluish and cinereous colour, the other where it is of a more smoky 
brown and bluish ash. This does not seem to depend on sex ; for one of 
these examples (Zebu 3G2) is marked $ , while I possess a Luzon example 
exactly similar, which Dr. Meyer determined to be a $ . The other Zebu 
example (No. 370) is marked $ , and is in the paler bluish-grey attire." ' 
I feel satisfied, after examining the specimens in the British Museum and 
in my own collection, that the difference in coloration is one due to age, 
for in young birds, the plumage is lighter than in the adult state. Dr. 
Meyer's observation that the dark mantle reaches, in Timor-laut skins 
only, just to the root of the tail, while in A. leucogaster it overlaps by 
about a centimetre, is, in as far as the series referred to enables an opinion 
to be formed, one not sufficiently constant to support specific separation. 
In several Timor-laut specimens examined, the dark plumage overlaps the 
tail more than 1 centimetre, and even more than in others from different 
parts of the Archipelago which have been hitherto recognised as A. 
leucogaster. In skins of A. leucogaster from Mysol and Macassar, the 
mantle is just conterminous with the root of the tail. Eeally, however, 
the absolute constancy of these measurements can be determined only with 
accuracy in the flesh, for the way in which the skin is manipulated will 
increase or diminish them by several centimetres. The same holds with 
regard to another character given as differential — the greater amount, in 
Timor-laut specimens, of white on the rump and upper tail-coverts. In 
my own specimens the white on the rump varies from 22-31 millim. 
in length, while in eight other skins from different regions of the 
Archipelago the range is from 26-32 millim., giving in the latter indeed 
a wider zone than in those from Timor-laut. In the long series of 
British Museum skins, the vjhite tips of nil but tin- two middle tail-feathers, 
another of Dr. Meyer's differential characters, is quite inconstant. In 
several Timor-laut skins not only these two tail feathers, but several 
others of the remiges, are without a white band, while in some examples 
it is even less than in undisputed A. leucogaster. In young birds the white 
tips are very pronounced, not on' the remiges only, but on the primaries 
and secondaries of the wing also. The Philippine (Zebu) birds already 



362 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



referred to, have the tips of the remiges quite as broad as in those from 
Timor-laut In a Lombock specimen (" ex Stevens") the tips of aft the 
feathers are white ; a Batanta and a New-Holland specimen have no white 
tips at all ; one from, Halmaheira and one from Buru (both from Mr. 
Wallace's collection) except in one feather, have no white on the remiges ; 
yet all of them have been determined to be, and are undoubtedly A. 
leucogaster (Val.) [H. 0. F.] 

31. DlCRUROPSIS BRACTEATUS, Gould. 

32. Pachycefhala arctitorquis, Sclater, loc. cit, PI. XIII. 

P. kebirensis, Meyer, op. sup. cit. 
P. riedelii, Meyer, op. sup. cit. 
Supra cinerea, alis caudaque nigris cinereo limbatis, pileo nucha et capitis 
lateribus nigris; subtus alba, torque jugular i angusto nigro ; subalaribus 
et remigum marginibus inter ioribus albis ; rostro et pedibus nigris : long, 
tota 5'5, alse, 3'0, caudee 2'2. Fern. Supra fusca, in pileo rufescens ; 
alis nigris extus rufo limbatis ; subtus alba, obsolete nigro striata. 
Hob. Larat, ins. Tenimberensem. 

Dr. Meyer, in the paper referred to, has described two new species of 
Pachycephala, whose names are given above as synonyms. If he is correct 
in his determinations we have the curious fact that, notwithstanding my 
more thorough examination of a wider field, which included the region 
whence he obtained his birds, the whole series obtained by me contained 
no females of P. arctitorquis and no males of P. riedelii (were Dr. Meyer's 
specimens sexed?); while those who made the collection examined by 
Dr. Meyer, obtained in Babbar (an island at no great distance to the 
•W. of Yamdena) females of P. arctitorquis, and evidently no males (so 
recognised by Dr. Meyer), and females of P. kebirensis (Meyer), with- 
out one of its males. I dai'y saw the collections made in Timor-laut by 
the Amboinese hunters making this collection, and I feel confident that 
no species of Pachycephala — one of the groups I am particularly in- 
terested in — was obtained by them which w r as not also in my collection. 
After comparing Dr. Meyer's descriptions with the long series I have 
of this bird, nearly all of which Dr. Sclater had before him when writing 
his original description, and which contains birds in almost every stage 
of plumage, from the young bird to the fully adult, I have little hesita- 
tion in affirming that P. arctitorquis, ( ? Meyer), from Timor-laut and 
Babbar, is but the immature male, and P. kebirensis (Meyer) the nearly 
fully adult female of P. arctitorquis, in which the colour of the bird when 
fully adult is black; while P. riedelii is a still younger female of the 
same species. From this it would seem clear to me that P. arctitorquis, 
Scl., occurs in Babbar also, for the examples before Dr. Meyer from that 
island w r ere young males and immature females, while from Timor-laut 
he had adult males, immature males ( $ , Meyer), and still younger 
females {riedelii, Meyer). [H. 0. F.] 

33. P. fusco-flava, Sclater, loc. cit., PI. XXVII. ; Forbes, P. Z. S., 18S3, 

pi. 588, PI. LIII. 

Obs. Similis P. leucogastro, sed torque angusto distinguenda. 

The pair of these species were obtained in Larat, in the first week of 
August 1882. The iris is marked "reddish brown "in the male, and 
"dark brown" in the female; the feet "blue-black" in the male, and 
" lavender-pink " in the female. 

31. Dictum fulgidum, Sclater. 

(Figured in Gould's 'Birds of New Guinea,' part 16.) 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 363 



Supra nitide purpurascenti-nigrum ; subtus album coccineo perfusum; 
hypochondriis olivaceo mixtis ; subalaribus et remigum pogoniis interim 
albis; rostro et pedibus nigris: long, iota 3 - 6, ate 2 0, caudce l'l. 
Bab. Larat et Lutur. 

Obs. Similis P. heiensi et D. ignicolK, sed ventre toto coccineo perfuso 
distinctum. 

'J here are two " male " examples of tins Dicoeum in the present collection 
—one from Larat (1.8.82) and one from Lutur (19.9.82). Both are 
labelled, "Irides dark brown; legs and feet black." 

35. Myzomela Annabels, Sclater ; nig. in Gould, ' B. N. Guin.,' Pt. 16. 
Nigra ; capite cum gutture toto undique et dorso postico coccineis ; ventre 

medio et remigum marginibus externis strictissimis olivaceis ; subalaribus 
et remigum pogoniis internis albis; rostro et pedibus nigris : long, tota 
3 - 5, ate 2 ' 0, caudai 1 ■ 3. 
Hab. Lutur, Timor-laut. 

Obs. Sp. ad M. erythrocepkalam et species huic affincs adjungenda, 
corpore coloris nigro et crassitie minore insignis. 

The single specimen was obtained September 22nd at Lutu. It is 
marked "Male: irides dark brown: bill black; legs and feet dirty green." 
I have named it by, request of tho discoverer, after his wife, who 
accompanied him in his perilous travels. 

36. Stigmatofs salvadoeii, Meyer, op. cit. 

Stigmatops squamata, Salvad. Sclater, P. Z. S., 1883, p. 198. 

Nectarinia sp. inc. Sclater, P. Z. S., 1883, p. 51. 
One of the most frequently met with birds. Feeds at the cocoanut flowers. 
The [first instalment of the] collection contained two skins in bad condition 
(marked " $ ") which I thought might probably be referable to a female of 
some species of Nectarinia. The [second instalment] comprehends nine 
specimens of the same bird of both sexes. It is evidently a Melipliagine 
bird of the genus Stigmatops, and, so far as I" can tell, without actual 
comparison with the types, inseparable from S. squamata of Salvadori. 
This species was discovered by Bosenberg on Khor Island between the 
Ke group and Ceram-laut, and may therefore probably also occur in the 
Tenimber group from which Khor lies not very far north. 

37. Philemon timoelaoensis, Meyer. 

P.plumigenis, Sclater, P. Z. S., 1883, p. 199. 

Philemon timorlaoensis is the name proposed by Dr. Meyer for the 
species designated P.plumigenis by Sclater (P. Z. S., 1883, pp. 51 & 195). 
The Timor-laut bird certainly differs from that from Ke, but the 
differences are scarcely to be formulated in words. The Tenimber bird 
seems intermediate between the Buru and Ke birds. Dr. Gadow, in the 
9th vol. of the Cat. of Birds, has not separated the species, nor has Mr. 
Sharpe, in the 16th part of Gould's " Birds of New Guinea," though he 
has expressed doubts as to their identit y. [H. 0. F.] 

38. ZosTEKors geiseiventeis, Sclater. 

Supra Icete viridis, annul o periophthalmico distinclo albo ; alis caudagut 
nigricantibus viridi limbatis ; subtus ]jallide grisea, in renin- medio 
albicantior, gula et crisso fiavis ; subalaribus et remigum marginibus 
internis albis, campterio flavido ; rostro pallide corneo, pedibus pallide 
fuscis ; long, tota 4'7, ate 2"5, caudce 1*7. 

Hab. Lai-ati Lutur, et Molu insulas Tenimberenses. 

There are sixteen specimens of this apparently new Zosteroj^ m the 



364 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



present collection, obtained at various dates in the localities above 
mentioned. The irides are noted as " reddish brown." 

The species belongs to the group of Z. albiventris ; but appears to be 
distinguishable by its greyish abdomen, which is only whiter in tlie 
middle line. 
3D. Gerygone dorsalis, Sclater. 

Supra brunnescentl-casta?iea, alis caudaque nigris dorsi colore limbatis, 
pileo et nucha murino-brunneis ; subtus alba, hypochondriis ru/escenti 
lavatis ; subalaribus alb is ; caudce rectricibus subtus in pogoniis 
interioribus nigricantibus macula versus apicem alba prceditis ; rostro et 
pedibus nigris : long, tota 4*0, alee 2*1, caudw I'd, tarsi 0"8. 
$ . Mari similis. 

J lab. Larat, Lutur et Molu, insulas Tenimberenses. 
I was rather uncertain as to the correct -position of this little bird, 
which is quite distinct from anything that I am acquainted with ; but 
Count Salvadori, to whom I have sent a skin for examination, kindly tells 
me it is a Gerygone. The bill is rather compressed, and the tarsi are long 
and slender. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth primaries are nearly 
equal and longest. The irides are noted as black. 

40. Oeiolus decipiens, Sclater. 
Memeta decipiens, Scl. P. Z. S., 1883. 

Fuscus fere, unicolor, superciliis albidis, pileo nigricanti striolato ; subtus 
paulo dilutior, gutture et cervice antica albis, prcecipue ad latera nigro 
guttulatis ; pectoris summi plumis quibusdam nigricanti striolatis ; 
regione auricular i nigricante ; rostro et pedibus nigris : long, tota 11*8, 
alee 6"5, caudas 5'0. 
Hob. Larat, insulam'Tenimberensem. 

Obs. Similis M. bouroensi, sed gula albida nigro transversim guttulata 
et pectoris summi plumis nigricanti striolatis distinguendus. 

Two specimens of this Mirneta, marked " irides dark brown," are in the 
collection. They so closely resemble Philemon plumigenis in general 
appearance, that I had at first mavked them as of that species. Cf. 
Wallace, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 26, on a similar case of mimicry in another 
species of this genus. 

41. Geocichla machiki, H. 0. Forbes. 

Geocichla sp. inc., Sclater, P. Z. S., 1883, loc. sup. cit. 

The species of Geocichla is an adult male, intermediate between Geocichla 
rubiginosa from Timor and G. erythronota from Celebes. The general 
colour of the upper parts is olive-brown, shading into slaty brown on the 
head and into chestnut on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; lores white, 
car-coverts mottled white and slaty-brown ; wings brown ; lesser wing- 
coverts olive-brown, broadly tipped with white; innermost secondaries 
russet-brown, obscurely tipped with white; tail-feathers russet-brown, 
the outer feathers on each side broadly tipped with dull white ; chin, 
throat, and breast huffish white, the rest of the under parts white, the 
feathers on the flanks broadly tipped with crescentic spots of black; 
axillaries — basal half white, terminal half black; under wing-coverts — 
basal half brown, terminal half white ; basal half of inner web of 
secondaries "and basal portion of many of the primaries white; upper 
mandible sooty grey, lower yellow; irides ash-brown; legs, feet, and claws 
pale flesh-colour. Wing, 4i inches, tail 3-2, culmen 1-05, tarsus 1-4. (No. 
in collection 583 g.) 

I propose that this new species should bear the name G. machiki, as a 
small mark of remembrance of Dr. Julius Machik, of Buda Pesth, Surgeon- 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 365 



Captain in the Dutch Army, and of appreciation of his extreme kindness 
and hospitality, and of the greatest possible assistance rendered by him 
to me in Sumatra, and more especially in Amboina to my wife and myself, 
both before and after our return from the Tenimber Island?. Dr. Machik 
is well known in the Archipelago for his extensive collections of Molusca 
fishes, snakes, and insects. [H. 0. F.] 

42. Geocichla. schtstacea, Meyer, op. cit. 

43. Pitta vigorsii, Ged. fide Meyer. 

44. MUNIA MOLUCCA, L. 

45. ERYTHRURA TRICHR0A, Kittl. 

46. Calornis gularis, G. E, Gr. 

C. metallica, Sclater, P. Z. S. loc. sup. cit. 
C. circumscripta, Meyer, op. sup. cit. 



The species of Calornis from the Tenimber Islands has been distin- 
guished from C. metallica as a new specie.*, 0. circumscripta by Dr. Meyer. 
1 have a large series of skins in my collection, and that they belong to a 
species distinct from C. metallica is undoubted, and, as Dr. Meyer observes, 
they can, when mixed up with any number of species of Calornis, be un- 
hesitatingly picked out by the coloration of the throat. The throat-plumes 
in C. metallica are prominently longer and more mucronate than those in 
the Timor-laut specimens. The violet of the mantle, however, contrary 
to the note of Dr. Meyer, has the blue-green reflexions observable in ( . 
metallica quite distinct in most of my specimens, if the eye be '' placed 
between the bird and the light" in position A, as described by Dr. Gadow 
(P. Z. S. 18S2, p. 409), that is with "the eye and the light almost in a 
level with the planes to be examined." A species of Calornis discovered 
by Mr. Wallace in Mysol (of which the type is in the British Museum) 
was named C. gularis by G. P. Gray ; but was considered by Count 
Salvadori (the label bearing the name in his handwriting) as C. metallica, 
while it remained unique. After comparison of this skin with Timor- 
laut specimens, the two are unquestionably identical. C. circumscripta 
(Meyer) must, therefore, be considered henceforth a synonym of C. gularis, 
G. E. Gr., which must now be removed from being a synonym of C. 
metallica to specific rank, confirming the opinion express-ed in 1876 (' Ibis/ 
p. 46) by Mr. Bowdler Sharpe, who says : " I must pronounce this, 
contrary to Lord Walden's opinion, a very pood species, distinguished by 
its purple throat and small bill, the culmen only measuring - 65 inch, as 
against - 85 in C. viridescens." This measurement is not the only one by 
which the species can be distinguished, for the plumage in every specimen 
is so constant that the skins cannot easily be confounded with any other. 
('. gularis is slightly less, and more brightly metallic— a more beautiful 
bird, in my opinion, even than the true C. metallica; the purple of the 
thro.it, which is more chastely and delicately feathered than in C. 
metallica, is separated from the .purple of the back and upper breast by a 
narrow and very bright green band, 'the total length of the bird in 14 
specimens ranged from 210-250 millim. Count Salvadori (P. Z. S., 1878, 
p. 89) remarks : " Some specimens (of C. metallica) have the throat more 
purplish than others, one from Mysol (C. gularis, Gray) cannot be 
separated from others from Halmalieira and Cape York." I have not seen 
any Halmalieira specimens ; but the Cape-York bird undoubtedly differs 
by' the purple on the breast, which is green in C. gularis : the green neck- 
band is much broader, and the throat is more markedly green and with- 
out purple. It has, I believe, been separated as C. purpurascens, Salv. 
The Admiralty-Island Calornis is somewhat similar to C. gularis, but is at 
25 



366 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



once distinguishable by the absence of purple on the back ; the head is 
purple ; and it is known as V. purpureiceps. [H. O. F.] 

47. Calornis crassa, Sclater. 

Obscure cineracea-viridis nitore clialybeo ; subtus, prcecipue in ventre, paulo 
maqis cineracea ; alis caudaque nigris extus dorsi colore lavatis ; remigum 
Tnargiaibus interioribus fuHginosis; rostro et pedibus nigris; cauda 
fere cequaU aut paulum rotundata: long, tota 7 "3, edee 4'1, caudce 2*8. 
Fern. Supra cineracea, striis scaparum nigris variegata ; alis caudaque 
fusco nigris ; subtus alba nigro flammulata ; crassitie fere eadem. 

Ilab. Larat, ins. Tenimberensem. 

Obs. Species cauda fere aequali, corpore crasito, rostro robusto ct colore 
maris uniformi notabilis. 

Both male (August 1st) and female (August 8th) are marked " Irides 
dark brown ; bill, legs, and feet black." 

48. Corvus latirostris, Meyer, op. sup. cit. 

Coruus validissimus, Sclater, loc. cit. 

49. Eurtstomi's rAciFicus, Lath, fide Meyer, op. sup. cit. 

50. Caprimulgus macrurus. Horsf. 

51. Hirujjdo javanica, Sparrm. 

V. COLUMB-EI. 

52. PnLorus wAllacii, Gr. 

53. D. lettiensis, Schl. fide Meyer. 

54. P. XANTHOGASTER, Wagl. 

P. flavovirescens, Meyer, op. sup. cit. 



The designation Ptilopus favovirescens has been proposed by Dr. Meyer 
for the Timor-laut Pigeon determined by Dr. Sclater as I', xanthogaster 
(Wagl.). The difference lies, he notes, in the " Gelbgrunlichgraue " of the 
head and neck. From a careful comparison of my own skins with those 
in the British Museum, I feel confident that the differences observed by 
Dr. Meyer will be found to be those due to age only. Very young birds 
have a grey band over the forehead, and the rest of the head with the 
neck and back nearly of the Fame shade of green; 'with advancing age we 
find every shade of green and yellowish-green to Dr. Meyer's " Gelbgrun- 
lichgraue." The head of the fully adult bird is purplish- grey, each 
feather having a pale yellow submarginal crescent across it. 

Some of the skins obtained by me differ as to head and neck in no 
respect from specimens brought by Mr. Wallace from Banda ; others have 
the head and neck of a grey colour tinctured with every shade through 
green- blue to yellow, differing according to the age of the birds. I cannot 
detect in the specimens I have, any difference in breadth of the " Gelb der 
Kehle"as compared with Mr. Wallace's specimens; nor is the breast shield 
constantly of one shade in all the specimens I have examined. In the 
Banda example (of Wallace) it is darker than any Timor-laut specimen 
before me. In agreement with all those in the British Museum, my 
Timor-laut specimens have the outer margin of the primaries and 
secondaries as in Salvadori's description, " flavo-marginatis." [H. 0. F.J 

55. Carpophaga coxcinna, Wall. 

56. C. rosacea, Temm. 

57. Myristicivora bicolor, Scop. 

58. Macropygia timorlaoensis, Meyer, op. sup. cit. 

Macropygia keiensis, Salv. 

Macropygia sp. inc., Sclater, P. Z. S. 1883, los. sup. cit. 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 3G7 



59. Spilopelia tigrina, T. fide Meyer, op. sup. cit. 

60. Geopelia maugei, Temm. 

61. Chalcophaps chkysochlora, Wagl. 

VI. Galling. 

62. Megapodius teniAiberkxsis, Selater. 

Supra brunnescenti-olivaceus, in cervice magis cinereus, in dorso postico 
magis brunnescens ; piho subcristato interscapuJio concolore ; subtus 
cineraceus olivaceo tindus ; capitis literalis et gulce pelle rubra plumis 
paucis obsita; subalaribus ventre concoloribu-, ; rostro Jiavo ; tarsis antice 
nigris postice rubris, digitis nigris ; long, tota 115 alee 9*6, caudce 35, 
tarsi 2'8. 
Hub. Firinun et Luttir, ins. Tenimberensem. 

66s. Sj^ecies pedum colore acl M. geelvinkianum corporis pictura magis 
ad M. tumulum appropinquans. 

There are two specimens of this apj)arently new Megaporle in the collec- 
tion. One from Lutur, Timor-laut, obtained September 22nd, is marked 
" Irides dark brown ; bill pale yellow ; legs in front black, but front of 
knees red, back of legs red; feet black." The other, from Kirimun, is 
labelled " Iris brown ; bill pale yellow ; legs and feet red." But the 
colours of these last-named parts, so far as can be told from the dry skins, 
do not materially differ from those of the first specimen ; and the two 
birds agree in plumage, except that the specimen from the islet of Kirimun 
is rather more reddish on the face. 

VII. Grallatores. 

63. ORTHORHAMPHrS MAGNIIOSTRIS, Geoff. 

64. Oedicnemus grallarius, Lath. 

65. Charadrius fui.vus, Gm. 

66. jEgialptis geoffroyi, Wagl. 

67. LOBIVANELLUS MILES, Bodd. 

68. Totanus incands, Gm. 

69. Numenius variegatus, Scop. 

70. Ardea sumatraxa, Raffles. 

71. A. NOV.&-ROLLANDI.E, Loth. 

72. Herodias alua, L. 

73. Demigretta sacra, Gm. 

74. Nycticorax caledonicus, Gm. 

75. Porphyuio melanopterus, Temm. 

VIII. Natatores. 

76. Nettapus pulchellus, GouH. 

77. Dendrocygna guttata, Mull. 

78. T adorn a radjah, Garn. 

79. Sterna melanauchen, T. 

SO. Onychoprion an^sthetus, Scop. 

Dr. Selater concludes his paper with the following remarks, which I 
reproduce, as the recent discoveries of Mr. Biedel's collectors have not 
materially modified the conclusions arrived at by the writer m 188 1 : 
" I will sav a few words concerning the general character of the avifauna 
of the Tenimber Islands so far as it is indicated by this collection. It 
is quite evident that the prevailing facies of this ornis is, as might have 
been expected, predominantly Papuan. Of the species included in the 
above-given list, 81 are mentioned in Salvador's work. Of the 24 new 



368 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



species discovered by Mr. Forbes all are of Papuan genera, and nearly 
allied to known Papuan species except the Strix, -which appears to be a 
diminutive form of an Australian type, and the Myiagra, which is nearest 
to a Timor form; the Geocichla machiki is most nearly allied to a Timor 
bird There is also in the collection one other Timor bird, Erythrura 
tricolor, which is not found in New Guinea or the Moluccas. 1 think, 
therefore, we may fairly say that the Tenimberese Avifauna is pre- 
eminently Papuan, varied only by a slight element from Timor (repre- 
sented by Erythrura tricolor, Myiagra fulviventris, and the Geocichla), and 
by an Australian tinge shown by the Strix, and perhaps by Monarcha 
rt'itidus being present (as in the Aru Islands) instead of M. chalybeo- 
cephalus. 




SKETCH-MAP OF THE REGION, SHOWING THE GEOGRAPHICAL RELATIONS OF TEE 

TENIMBER GROCP. 

(WITH THE KIND PERMISSION OF THE COUNCIL, OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL 

INSTITUTE.) 

That the Tenimber group would possess a certain number of peculiar 
endemic forms was also to be exjDected, from their isolated situation, and 
the deep channel around them. Altogether these are 29 [now 30] in 
number, namely the 27 [28] species above described as new, and two 
Parrots (Eos reticulata and Eclectus riedeli) previously known." [H. 0. F.] 



IV. — On the Collection ^Reptiles and Batrachians from the Timor-laut 
Islands, formed by Mr. H. 0. Forbes. By G. A. Boulenger, F.Z.S. 

(From Proc. Zool. Soc. London, June 5, 1883. PL XLL, XLII.) 

The Reptiles and Batrachians collected by Mr. Forbes in the Timor- 
laut Islands, and presented to the British Museum by the British As- 
sociation, belong to seventeen species, which, with the exception of two 
new to science, were already well known from different parts of the 
Austro-Malayan sub-region. The two new species are a Lizard of the 
Australian genus Lophugnathus, Gray, and a Snake of the Indian genus 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 369 



Simotes, D. & B. The latter is the most remarkable discovery, as no 
species of this genus was known to occur eastwards of Java. 
The following is a list of the species collected :— 

KEPTILIA. 
Lacertilia. 

1. Gecko verticillatus, Laur. 

2. Peripia mutilata (Wiegm.). 

3. Varanus indicus (Daud.). 

4. Ablepharus boutonii (Desj.) {A. poecilopleums, Wiegm.]. 

5. Euprepes rffescens (Shaw). 
G. Euprepes cyanurus (Less.). 

7. Lygosoma smaragdinum (Less ). 

8. Bronchocela moluccana (Less.). 

9. LOPHOGNATHUS MACULILABRIS, BoilL, Sp. D. ; P. Z. S. IOC Sup. tit., 

PI. XLI. 

Snout obtuse, as long as the distance between the orbit and the pos- 
terior border of the ear. Nostril equally distant from the orbit and the 
tip of the snout. Upper surface of head covered with very strongly 
keeled scales. Dorsal scales small, the upper largest, strongly keeled, 
all obliquely directed upwards. Gular and ventral scales strongly keeled, 
the latter larger than the largest dorsal scales. No femoral or prseanal 
pores. Upper surfaces olive, with blackish transverse markings across 
the back, tail, and limbs ; upper surface of head with three obsolete 
blackish transverse bands, separated by light lines; a broad blackish 
band from orbit to tympanum, bordered inferiorly by a light band ex- 
tending to above the fore limb ; lips light-coloured, variegated with 
blackish; lower surfaces whitish, dotted all over with blackish. 

Two specimens; the largest measures: — • 

millim. 

Total length 388 

From tip of snout to vent ....... 98 

fore limb ...... 43 

Length of head (to occiput") ...... 22 

Width of head . 17 

Fore limb ......... 46 

Hind limb i34 

Tail . 290 

Ophidia. 

10. Python reticulatus (Schn.). 

11. LlASIS AMETHYSTINUS (Schn.). 

12. Enygrus carinatus (Schn.). 

13. Simotes forbesi, Bouleng, n. sp. ; P. Z. S. loc. sup. cit. PI. XLII. 
Length of snout measuring twice the diameter of the eve. Nasal 

divided ; loreal slightly higher than broad ; one pra> and two post- 
oculars ; temporals 1 + 2 ; seven upper labials, the third and fourth 
entering the orbit; four inferior labials in contact with anterior chin- 
shields ; latter, hinder part three-fifths the length of anterior pair. The 
portion of the rostral seen from above is as long as the suture between 
the internasals and the prefrontals; latter considerably higher than 
internasals. Frontal longer than its distance from the tip of the snout, 
as long as parietals. Scales in 17 rows. Ventrals slightly keeled on the 
sides, 155 or 165; anal entire; subcaudals 45. Upper surfaces greyish 



370 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



brown, the borders of the scales darker; head with the ordinary sym- 
metrical dark markings; the inner border of the seventh longitudinal 
scries of scales, counted on each side from the gastrosteges, darker, thus 
forming two fine vertebral lines separated from each other by three rows 
of scales; belly yellowish, each ventral shield with a brown spot near 
the lateral edge, these spots more or less confluent into a dark streak, 
separated from the dorsal brown colour by a pure yellowish streak of 
equal width ; in one of the two specimens the ventrals become gradually 
entirely brown towards the posterior part of the body, except the lateral 
outer streak, which remains pure yellowish. Head and body 30i centim. ; 
tail 58 millim. 

14. Dendrophis punctulatus (Gray). 

15. Chrysopelea rhodopleuron (Eeinw.). 

ATEACHIA. 

16. Eana papua, Less. 



Y. — On the Coleopterous Insects collected by Mr. H. 0. Forbes in the 
Timor-laut Islands. By Chas. 0. "Waterhouse, F.Z.S. 

(From Proc. Zool. Soc. London, April 1884, p. 213, PI. XYI. 

The number of species of Coleoptera collected by Mr. Forbes in the 
Timor-laut Islands is twenty-nine. Of these the following deserve 
special notice on account of their geographical distribution : — 

1st. Diaphcetes rugosus, a new genus and species of Staphylinidse, which 
Mr. David Sharpe informs me he possesses from Java. 

2nd. Cyphogastra angulicollis (from Larat), a species of Buprestidse, only 
previously known from Banda. 

3rd. Cyphogastra splendens (from Maru), a new species closely allied to 
the preceding. 

4th. Archetypus rugosus, a new species. This genus of Longi corns, of 
which there was only one species previously known, occurs in Waigiou, 
Dorey, and Aru. 

5th. Pelargoderus rugosus. Another new Longicom closely allied to P. 
arouensis. 

6tb. Nemophas forbesii. A third new Longicorn nearly allied to N. grayi 
from Amboina. 

Carablixe. 

Catascopus amcenus, Chaud. 

Two specimens which may perhaps be merely varieties of this species. 
They are, however, darker in colour than any in the British-Museum 
collection, being of an obscure olive-aeneous, shading into dark purple at 
the sides of the elytra. 

Hab. Maru. 

Staphylinid^. 

Diaphcetes, Waterhouse. 

General characters of Staphylinus^vi with the smaller than is usual in 
that genus. Labial palpi robust, with three visible joints ; the first and 
second short, the apical one very large and cup-shaped. The maxillae 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 371 



are very broad, the inner lobe a little longer than broad and densely 
covered with hair; the outer lobe produced a little beyond the inner one, 
the apex with dense matted hair, with four or live stiff bristles on the 
outer side. Basal joint of the maxillary palpi short ; the second and third 
stout, about twice as long as broad, narrowed at the base : the apical 
joint narrower than the preceding, acuminate at the apex. The labrum 
about twice as long as broad, membranous, the middle of the front 
margin very deeply incised, fringed with stiff hair, and with some long 
stiff bristles arising from behind the margin. The anterior angles of the 
thorax are very much directed downwards and are rather obtuse, and are 
not visible when viewing the insect from above, in which position the 
thorax has a nearly circular outline. The under refiexed shining margins 
parallel as far as the front angles. Intermediate coxae slightly separated. 
Tarsi rather slender. 

DiAracETES rugosus, Waterhouse. P. Z. S. loc. sup. cit. PL XVI. 
Kg. 1. 

Nearly black: sparingly clothed with pubescence, which is chiefly 
brown, but on the shoulders of the elytra, the basal segment of the 
abdomen, and the margin of the penultimate segment, and on the tibiae is 
golden. Head, thorax, and elytra densely and very strongly punctured, 
the punctures on the disk of the thorax having a tendency to run 
together longitudinally. The punctuation of the abdomen is much less 
strong and less close. Head a little broader than long, about two thirds 
the width of the thorax ; the cheek behind each eye is much less than the 
length of the eye, the posterior angle rounded. Thorax rounded at the 
sides and behind ; in the middle of the base there is a short smooth spot. 
Elytra as long as the thorax, but distinctly broader, with an indication 
of a sutural stria. Legs pubescent, the middle tibiae beset with small 
blackish sjrines on the outer side. LeDgth 6 lines. 

Hab. Larat. 

PAS3ALID.E. 

Leptaulax tmoiuensis, Perch. 

The specimens in the British Museum Collection are from India, 
Philippine Is., Java, Amboina, Celebes, &c. 
Hab. Larat. 

DYNASTID.E. 

Okyctes rhinoceros, Linn. 

Found in all the neighbouring islands. 

Hub. Maru. 

Horonotus deilophus, Sharp. 

This species was described from the Philippine Islands. The speci- 
mens found by Mr. Forbes are small males, but do not differ materially 
from the Philippine examples. 

Hob. Maru and Larat. 

BUPRESTID^E. 

Cyphogastra angulicollis, Deyr. 

This species was described from Banda. The specimen before me from 
Larat agrees well with examples from Banda, but the copper colour on 
the suture of the elytia does not extend quite to the scutellum. 

Cyphogastra splendens, Waterhouse. P. Z. S. loc. sup cit. PI. XVI. 
Fig. 2. 

Very close to C. un<juUcolUs, and of the ramc form, but with a different 



372 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



distribution of colour. The thorax is bright coppery, with more or less 
"■olden green on the disk. The elytra have the dorsal region very dark 
steel-blue (appearing almost black) ; this blue colour making an elongate 
triangular patch (common to both elytra), broadest at the base, and 
narrowing posteriorly terminates at about one-third from the apex ; next 
there is on each elytron a broad oblique coppery red stripe (margined on 
its inner side by golden green), commencing on the shoulder, extending 
to near the apex (where it touches the suture), but then turned suddenly 
to the lateral margin of the elytron ; the side of the elytron (from below 
the shoulder to where it meets the turn of the coppery stripe) is dark 
blue : the extreme apex is blue black. Length 17£ lines. 
Hab. Mam. 

ELATERID.2E. 

Adelocera cincta, Candeze. 

The specimen before me agrees well with the description given (C. E. 
Soc. Ent. Belg. 1878, p. lii) of tiais species from Sumatra. The allied 
species has a wide ranje. 

Hab. Maru. 

Bostrichim:. 

Bostrichus iEQUALis, Waterhouse. P. Z. S. loc. sup. cit. PL XVI. 
Fig. 3. 

Elongate, parallel, convex, shining; black, with the elytra and legs 
obscure pitchy, antennae paler. Head densely and finely granular; the 
epistomi less opaque, closely and finely punctured. Thorax with the 
basal half parallel, very convex ; the front half obliquely narrowed 
anteriorly, sloping down, with six teeth on each margin, two anterior pair 
slightly porrect, the space between them emarginate. The surface pos- 
teriorly is marked with moderately large, deep punctures, which arc 
irregularly placed, the intervals irregularly and extremely finely and 
rather sparingly punctured ; all the front part is asperate. The posterior 
angles very slightly conically produced and diverging. Elytra of the 
same width as the thorax, scarcely broader posteriorly, very abruptly 
deflexed at the apex ; deeply and strongly punctured, the punctures 
rather close together, placed irregularly near the suture, but having 
towards the sides a tendency to form lines ; the interspaces smooth'and 
shining, less than the diameter of the punctures (except here and there in 
the longitudinal direction, when the intervals are equal to the diameter 
of the punctures) ; at rather remote intervals very minute punctures may 
be seen. At the upper part of the posterior declivity, on each elytron, 
are two short, scarcely noticeable costee; the extreme apex is slightly 
reflexed, dull. The first joint of the club of the antennae is a little longer 
than broad, the second as long as broad, the third elongate-ovate. The 
anterior angles of the metasternum, and the metasternal epipleura are 
densely and very finely granular. The abdomen is closely and fine punc- 
tured, and very delicately pubescent. The tar?i are not very long as 
compared with some of the species of this genus. Length 5 lines. 

Hab. Maru. 

Tenebrionid.se. 
Opatrtjm, sp. 

A species closely resembling the African 0. micans, Germ., and perhaps 
identical and introduced. 
Hab. Maru. 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 373 



Brapymerus, sp. 

A species of this difficult genus, which I am unable to determine. 

Hub. Mara. 

Toxicum gazella, Fabr. 

The examples agree well with specimens of this species in the British 
Museum from Malacca. 

Hab. Maru. 

Toxicum quadricorne, Fabr. 

The specimens in the British Museum are from Penang, Java ; 
Philippine Is., and Borneo. 

Hab. Maru. 

Amarygmus, sp. 

A single species of this very difficult genus, which I cannot determine. 

Hab. Mara. 

Pediris subopacus, "Waterhouse. P. Z. S. loc. sup. cit. 

Closely allied to P. (Nyctobates) sulciger, Boisd., but loss shining 
Entirely black ; the head much more closely and rather more strongly 
punctured than in P. sulciger, especially on the vertex. Thorax slightly 
shining only in the middle : the impression on each side of the middle 
much less marked than in P. sulciger, the punctuation more distinct. 
Elytra somewhat dull ; the striae nearest to the suture very lightly im- 
pressed (except at the extreme apex) ; the lateral ones deeper, but much 
less so than iu P. sulciger ; the first three interstices flat, the lateral ones 
very slightly arched, much less than in P. sulciger. 

Length 16 lines. 

Hab. Maru. 

CURCULTONIDiE. 

Orthorrhinus l^tus, Saund. & Jekel. 

The type of this species is from New Hebrides. 

Hab. Maru. 

SPHENorHORUS obscurus, Boisd. 

A widely distributed species. 

Hab. Larat. 

PRIONID.ffi. 

Archetypus castaneus, Waterhouse. P. Z. S. loc. sup. cit. PI. XVI. 
Fig. 4. 

Dark chestnut-brown, the head and mandibles inclined to black ; the 
legs and abdomen pitchv yellow. Mandibles nearly as long as the head, 
very robust, convex, strongly punctured; on the inner side and the 
cpistoma clothed with fulvous hair. Head shining above, dull at the 
sides, with a longitudinal impressed line in the middle; with some 
strong punctures above, rugose at the sides. Thorax wider than the 
head; as its broadest part (just before the anterior angles) a little more 
than twice as broad as lone;, narrowed posteriorly, shining; the disk fiat, 
moderately strongly but not closely punctured, with a smooth spot in the 
middle; the sides sloping down; the shining surface of the disk 
continued down the fide in a triangular shape to near the margin ; the 
rest of the side impressed, dull and densely punctured, bcutelium 
smooth. Elytra at the base a little broader than the base of the thorax, 
gradually widened posteriorly for two-thirds their length, and then again 
narrowed, the apex broad and obtusely rounded ; shining, strongly and 
moderately closely punctured, except near the scutellum, where the 
punctuation is very delicate. Each elytron has a fine slightly oblique 
raised line about tne middle, commencing within the shoulder and not 



374 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



extending to the apex. Submentum very closely and very coarsely 
rugose. 

Length lGi lines. 

Hab. Maru. 

Cerambycid^:. 

Pachydissus holosericeus, Fahr. 
Occurs in many of the neighbouring islands. 
Hab. Maru. 

DiatojIocephala bachymerum, Pascoe. 

The specimens of this species in the British Museum are from Celebes 
and Waigiou. 
Hab. Larat. 

Lamiice. 

Tmesisternus glaucus, Pascoe ? 

I am not sure of the identity of Mr. Forbes's specimen with the species 
described by Mr. Pascoe. It has more yellow colour on the abdomen. 

Hab. Maru. 

Pelargoderus rtjgosus, Waterhouse. P. Z. S. loc. sup. cit. 

Nearly black; head coarsely rugose, with sandy yellow pubescence 
lound and beneath the eyes. Basal joint of the antennas very rugose, 
not much narrowed at its base. Thorax rugose, rather dull, with 
scarcely any trace of lateral spine, sparingly pubescent : the pubescence 
forming a narrow sandy line on each side of the middle. Elytra with 
the basal half rather strongly punctured, those at the base generally 
marked by a shining granule ; the posterior half is more closely and 
more rugose] y punctured. The basal half and the sides are rather 
closely marked with irregular small spots of sandy pubescence, but at 
about one quarter from the base there is near the suture an oblique bare 
patch. A little behind the middle there is a lather larpe oblique bare 
patch, which extends from the side to the suture ; and behind this there 
is a patch of pale sandy pubescence, not quite touching the side, but 
reaching the suture and the apex. The apex of each elytron is obliquely 
truncate, the outer angle obtuse. 

Length 18 lines. 

Hab, Larat. 

This species is very close to P. arouensis, Th., but is more robust, much 
more rugosely sculptured on the head and thorax ; and the basal joint of 
the antenna} is ltss narrowed at the base and more rugose. 

NEMorriAS forbesi, Waterhouse. P. Z. S. loc. sup. cit. PL XVI. 
Fig. 5. 

Black, with the elytra bright steel-blue ; the thorax entirely clothed 
with sandy yellow pile ; the elytra with numerous more or less inter- 
rupted bands of reddish ochreous pubescence. 

Length 17-20 lines. 

This species is close to N. grayii, Pascoe, but has no trace of blue 
colour in the head and antennas. The thorax is entirely covered with the 
yellow pile, with no black at the base. The bands of the elytra are 
more numerous, generally about seven, and these are more irregular. 
And lastly, the sterna, epimera, and the basal segments of the abdomen 
are more or less clothed with reddish pubescence. 

Hab. Maru and Larat. 

Batocera rtjbus, Fabr., var. ? 

The specimen from Larat is a little larger than B. rubus usually is, 
and has the scutcllum clothed with fulvous instead of white pubescence. 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 



375 



COPTOPS FUSCA, Oliv. ? 

A single specimen from Maru which I cannot separate from the 
African U.fusca and which is therefore doubtless introduced. 

Symphyletes pedicornis, Fabr. 
An Australian species introduced. 
Bab. Maru. 

Prao>tetha pleuricausta, Pascoe. 

I can see no difference between the specimen brought by Mr. Forbes 
and that described by Mr. Pascos from Port Albany, N. Australia. 
Hab. Maru. 

Chrysomelid^;. 
Phyllocharis cyanipes, Fabr. 

This species occurs in Australia, New Guinea, Bum, &c. 
Hab. Maru. 



V. — 0:i the Lepidoptera collected by Mr. H. 0. Forbes in the Llands of 
Timor-laut. By Arthur G. Butler F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. 

(From Proc. Zool. Soc. London, June 1883, PI. XXXVIII.) 

Twenty-three species of Lepidoptera were obtained by Mr. Forbes in his 
expedition to Timor-laut ; one of these, however, is apparently a Micro- 
Lepidopteron, so much rubbed and broken as to be unrccogisable ; all 
the Moths, in fact, are in very poor condition, forming a marked contrast 
in this respect to the Butterflies, which are well preserved. 

The following Table will give an idea of the geographical relations of 
the named species in this collection : — 




376 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



From the obove, however, we may deduct the wide-ranging species 
Catochryspps patala, Lampides celianus, Lagoptera honesta, and Hymenia 
fascial!*, which leaves us 5 Timor types, 3 Australian, 2 Amboina, 2 New 
Guinea, 1 Aru, 1 Lifu, 2 Javan, 1 Indian. The last of these, however, is 
equally characteristic of the Malayan fauna, as also is that from Poly- 
nesia ; these two forms, therefore, may be regarded as doubtful, which 
will leave the relative proportions of the species as follows: — Indo- 
Malayan 2, Austro-Malayan 10, Australian 3. The only surprising 
fact in this distribution is the preponderance of Timor over Aru or 
.New-Guinea forms, the species characteristic of that island being only 
equalled by those from Aru, New-Guinea and Amboina combined. . 

Ehopaloceea. 

nymphalid2e. 

EUPIXEINiE. 

1. Chanapa saceedos, Butler ; loc. sup. cit. PI. XXXVIII. Fig. 7. 
Nearly allied to 0. lewinii of Australia; the wings much blacker, 

the primaries of the male velvet-black, the white spots on the primaries 
decidedly larger, the sericeous brand on the male of twice the length : 
secondaries with the discal series of white spots more regular, nearer 
to outer margin, and not notched as in 0. lewinii ; the submarginal 
spots clearer and arranged more regularly. Expanse of wings, $ 78 mm., 
$ 71 mm. 
Larat. 

2. Calliplcea visekda, Butler; lo3. sup. cit. PI. XXXVIII. Fig. 1. 
Allied to 0. hyerns (arisbe, Fid.) from Timor, but much darker; the 

primaries are of the male velvet-black ; the white spots on the primaries 
larger, especially the two last in the series, the last of all -being the 
largest spot in the series ; submarginal dots wanting on the upper surface 
of primaries, but present on the secondaries, which are not bordered 
with pearl-white but with greyish brown; the discal spots forming a 
sinuous white band well separated from the margin, somewhat as in the 
preceding species; the usual whitish costa and cream-coloured sexual 
patch. Expanse of wings, 64 mm. 

Maru Island. 

This is one of the prettiest species in the genus, and is doubtless a 
copy of the preceding species. 

3. Salattjea laeatensis, Butler; loc. sup. cit. PI. XXXVIII. Fig. 5. 
Allied to S. artenice, Cramer of Java ; but the subapical white fascia 

decidedly broader; no central white markings on the secondaries; the 
veins on the under surface of these wings less distinctly bordered with 
white. Expanse of wings 70-74. 
Larat. 

NYMrHALINai. 

4. Hypolimnas foebesii, Butler ; loc. sup. cit. PL XXXVIII. Fig. 4. 

? . Allied to II. polymelia from Aru : velvet-black shot with purple ; 
primaries with the pattern of H. velleda $ , but darker, and with all the 
white spots of double the size; the secondaries differ from H. polymena 
in having a series of hastate brown dashes along the internervular folds 
from just beyond the middle of the broad cream-coloured external area ; 



IN T1M0R-LAUT. 377 



through the centre of which a series of white spots can be dimly seen. 
Expanse of wings 80 mm. 

Larat. 

This is one of the most beautiful species in the genus ; it bears a vague 
resemblance to II. albula of Timor, which, however, belongs to the 
H. anomala group. 

5. Precis expansa, Butler. 

o . Allied to P. timorensis of Wallace, from which, however, it differs 
in its clearer fulvous colouring above, the blackish colouring of the external 
area being confined to the apex, the paler coloration of the under surface, 
its broader and less produced primaries, and the less pronounced caudal 
angle to the secondaries. Wings above tawny, with black markings and 
bluish-centred ocelli, as in P. erigone of Java (Cramer, Pap. Exot, i. pi. 
62. E, F), but the white markings of that species replaced by a slightly 
paler tint of tawny than the ground colour ; under surface as in P. erigone. 
Expanse of wings 52-54 mm. 

Larat, 

Why the P. erigone group has been referred to Junonia and the 
scarcely differing P. natalica to Precis it would, I think, be hard to 
explain. J', antkjone and P. natalica seem very closely allied species. 

~Lxc&mvm. 

6. Catochrysops patala. 

Lyccena pata/a, Kollar, Hiigel's Kaschmir, iv. 2, p. 419 (1848). 
tf . Mam Island. 

Does not differ from Indian specimens excepting in the slightly whiter 
tint of the under surface. 

7. Lampides ^lianus. 

■hesperia eelianus, Fabricius, Ent. Syst. iii. 1, p. 280. n. 79 (1793) 
Larat. 

Does not differ from Indian specimens excepting in its slightly inferior 
expanse of wings; in colouring and pattern it perfectly agrees. 

PAPILIONIDffi. 
PlERIN^. 

8. Delias timorensis, Boisduval ; loc. sup. cit. PI. XXXVIII. Fig. 6. 

Pieris timorensis, Boisduval, Sp. Gen. Lep. i. p. 459. n. £0 (183G). 

Larat. 

Most nearly allied to D. vishnu of Moore from Java (with which species 
it was associated by Wallace). It differs in its superior size, the 
narrower black area of the upper surface, the deeply sinuated inner edge 
of the black area on the primaries, the apical series of spots much 
smaller, the fifth, as Boisduval says, " tres petite et ponctiforme," whereas 
in 2). vishnu this is the case with a sixth spot not present in D. timorensis : 
primaries below with the basal pale area cuneiform (not angular), pure 
lemon-yeilow within and just below the cell, otherwise pearl-white ("la 
base gris-blanchatre saupoudree de jaune pur," Buisd.): secondaries with 
only the basi-abdominal third* brilliant golden yellow; suffused at 

* The carelessness of Boisdnval's description at this point probably misled 
Wallace; he says :— " La moitie ante'rieure d'un beau jaune de chrome." On 
the other hand, the yellow of D. cUhnu has a decidedly dull creamy appear- 
ance. 



378 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



its inferior extremity with bright orange; the inner edge cf this area 
straight, not angulated as in D. vishnu ; the subinarginal red lunules 
narrower, of a more carmine tint, the terminal one not expanded, further 
from the' outer margin, yet not touching the yellow area : there are in 
fact as Boisduval says, " sept lunules," and not sis lunules and two 
spots as in D. vishnu. 

9. Terias maroensis, Butler; los. sup. cit. PI. XXXVIII. Pig. 2. 

? . Nearly allied to T. excavata of Moore, from India, but of a decidedly 
deeper yellow (bright sulphur) than the female of that species : the inner 
edge of the external border decidedly arched, convex, not concave, towards 
the costa, the sinuation upon the median interspaces not so deep and 
more oblique (as in T. sari) ; the discal markings on the under surface of 
secondaries less defined and arranged in a nmch less irregular series. 
Expanse of wings 42 mm. 
Maru Island. 

10. Terias laratensis, Butler ; loc. sup. cit. PL XXXVIII. Pig. 3. 

$ . Nearly allied to T. lifuana ; above most like my " Japanese 
Trias," fig. 10 (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1880, pi. vi.), but with less-pointed 
primaries and narrower apical border ; it, however, belongs to the T.- 
cesiope group, the primaries below being marked with a curved series of 
three subapical red-brown spots; other markings much as usual, all well 
defined ; the discal series of secondaries forming a nearly straight line 
between the first subcostal and second median branches. Expanse of 
wings 39 mm. 
Larat. 

11. Appias albina. 

Pieris albina, Boisduval, Sp. Gen. Lep. i. p. 480, n. G2 (1S3G). 
$ . Maru Island. 

A small example ; the species was originally described as from 
Amboina. 

12. Appias Clementina, Peld. 

Pieris Clementina, Felder, Sitzungsb. Ak. Wifs. Wicn, math.-nat. CI. xl. 
p. 448 (I860); Beise der Nov., Lep. v. p. 162, n. 133, pi. 25. Pig. G 
(1867). 

$ . Maru Island. 

Originally described as from Amboina. 

13. Belexois consanguis, Butler, loc. sup. cit. 

Nearly allied to B. pitys from Timor, but a little smaller; the external 
border of primaries with more oblique inner edge, much broader towards 
the costa and without any trace of a subapical white spot : primaries 
below white, suffused with sulphur-yellow at the base only; external 
area black internally, but of a reddish clay- colour towards apex; its 
inner edge much less irregular than in B. pitys, being sinuated only on 
the lower radial and lower (or first) median interspaces : secondaries 
saffron-yellow, the external border with purplish-black internal, and 
reddish clay-coloured external half. Expanse of wings 48 mm. 

Larat. 

Papilionin^e. 

14. Papilio aberrans, Butler, loc. sup. cit. 

Pattern and form of Papilio liris of Timor, which it greatly resembles 
on the upper surface, but the pale area on the primaries is whiter, and 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 379 



the submavginal spots on the secondaries sandy brown, instead of dull 
red; the sides of the abdomen, front of head, anus, and lateral pectoral 
strips are ochreous instead of deep rose-red, and the submarginal spots 
on the under surface of the secondaries are ochreous buff instead of rose- 
red. Expanse of wings 108 mm 

$ $ . Larat. 

There were several examples of this species in Mr. Forbes's collection, 
clearly showing that the differences of coloration are constant. 

15. Papilio inopinatus, Butler, loc. sup. cit. 

Allied to P. adrastus of Felder, from Ceram and N. Guinea; but the 
male with a broad oblique subapical white belt, which does not quite 
reach the outer margin and is cut by the black nervures ; the fascia on 
the secondaries narrower, formed more nearly as in the Australian 
P. cegeus, with zigzag outer edge, but of more uniform width throughout 
than in that species, and of a sordid cream-colour ; a scarlet spot near 
the anal angle, well separated from the central fascia. The female differs 
in the whiter and oblique belt across the primaries, the inner edge of 
which is not so deeply zigzag, and therefore is i ot angulated as in the 
allied species, and the outer half towards apex suffused with grey so as 
greatly to reduce its width ; secondaries with no trace of the central 
white patch, the submarginal scarlet spot large, oblong, and notched in 
front. Expanse of wings, $ 111 mm., ? 153 mm. 

$ var. Wings shorter; the inner edge of the white band of primaries 
impinged upon by the discoidal cell, which also encloses a spot of the 
same colour as the band; the band of the secondaries bioader, cutting 
across the end of the cell. Expanse of wings 132 mm. 

Maru Island. 

Heteeoceea. 
Sphingid^:. 

16. Diludia casuarin^: ? Walk. 

Macrosila casuarince, Walker, Lep. Het, viii. p. 210, n. 19 (1856). 
Larat. Taken in Sagueir (palm-wine) bamboo?. 
The specimen is so much rubbed that it is impossible to be sure that 
it is the same as the Australian species. 

CATEPHIIDiE. 

17. Ebcheia dubia, Butler. 

Catephia dubia, Butler, Cist. Ent. i. p. 292 (1874). 
Larat. 
One worn example of this Australian species was obtained. 

Ophiusid^;. 

18. Lagoptera honesta, Hub. 

Thyas honesta, Hiibner, Samml. exot. Schmett. ii. hep. iv., Noct, iii. 
Semigeometrro v., Meropidcs A. Festivse 1, figs. 1, 2 (1805). 
$. Larat. 

Uraniid^e. 



19. Lyssidia goldiei, Druce. 

Lyssidia yoldiei, Druce, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 781. 
Larat. 



380 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



HYP.ENID.3E. 

20. PlNACIA MOLYBDiENALIS, Hiib. 

Pinacta motybdcenalis, Hiibner. Samml. exot. Schmett., Zutr. p. 13, 
n. 218, figs. 435, 436. 
Larat. 

Previously known from Java and Borneo. 

AsOPIIDiE. 

21. Hymenia fascialis, Cram. 

Fltahena-I'i/ralis fascialis, Cramer, Pap. Exot. iv. pi. 398. (1782). 
Larat. 
A fragment of this wide-ranging species was obtained. 

Botidide. 

22. Botys, sp. 

A broken example of a species allied to B. gastralis, which it resembles 
iu size and coloration ; the pattern, however, agrees better with B. 
rosinalis. 

Bitabel, Larat. 

The specimen is not sufficiently perfect to name; it is chiefly interest- 
ing for its re.-emblance to New- World types. 

The only other Lepidopteron is unrecognisable, as previously men- 
tioned; the veining of the wings reminds one of some Micro-Lepi- 
dopteron. 



VII. — On the Collection o/'HYMENOPTERArmci! Diptera from the Timor-laut 
Islands, formed by Mn. H. O. Forbes. By W. F. Kprby, Assistant in 
the Zoological Department, British Museum. 

(From the Proc. Zool. Soc. London, May, 1883, p. 343 et seqq.) 

The small collection before me, consisting of only five species of 
Ilymenoptera (all new) and three of Diptera, was formed in two of the 
f mailer islands of the Timor-laut group, viz. Larat and Maru. I will now 
proceed to describe the Hymenoptera and to notice the Diptera, merely 
remarking that they exhibit stroDg affinities to those of the surrounding 
groups of islands, as would naturally be anticipated beforehand. The 
specimens are numbered ; and I have noted these numbers throughout. 

HYMENOPTERA ACULEATA. 
ApiD.a:. 

Crocisa cteruleifrons, Kir by., loc. cit. 

Long. corp. 5 lin. 

Female. Black, face and orbits (very broadly above) blue ; prothorax 
with a short stripe behind on each, side above, and a very large spot on 
the sides ; mesothorax with seven blue spots— two small ones on the front 
border, adjoining those on the prothorax, a longitudinal one between, 
then two slightly oval ones near the middle, and a large irregular spot 
behind on each side, projecting a branch forward within the very large 
black tegukc; scuttellum black, strongly excavated in the middle: 
abdomen with the fir§t segment blue, a narrow longitudinal line, the 
greater part of the hind border, and a long transverse spot contiguqus to 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 381 



it black, the remaining segments of the abdomen are black, with a wide 
blue stripe sloping slightly upwards on each side ; legs black, all the 
tibite with a wide blue stripe on the outside ; wings dark purplish brown. 
(2128, Maru.) 

Allied to C. nitidula, Fabr., a species common in Amboina, Australia, 
&c, but apparently distinct. 

Xylocopa forbesii, Kirby, loc. cit. 

Long. corp. 10 lin. 

Male. Thickly clothed above with olive-green pubescence, as in the 
male of X. cestuans, Linn., or of A*, bryorum, Fabr. ; antennas black above 
and fulvous beneath, the hairs on the middle of the under surface of the 
body, especially towards the tip, those on the lower part of the face, and 
the very long hairs on the tarsi shading into fulvo-ferruginous : wings 
brownish hyaline, with a slight violet shade, and marked on all the cells 
along the hind margin with numerous black dots, as in the allied species : 
proboscis black, probably reddish within, and at the base when extended. 
(1988, Larat.) 

Female. Black, thickly clothed with black hairs, and very thickly and 
finely punctured, except on the middle of the rhesothorax, which is 
smooth and shining, and has a short longitudinal furrow in front ; head 
clothed with bright yellow pubescence, that on the face thinner and 
paler; wings with a bright green iridescence, purplish along the veins 
towards the base; apical half of the antennas pale beneath; proboscis 
mostly reddish ; under surface of body thickly punctured, but with 
some bare spaces along the middle line. (1958, Larat; 2019, Maru.) 

Closely allied to X. coronata, Smith, from Kaioa ; but in the female of 
that species (which doubtless has a male similar to that of X. forbesii) the 
wings have a bright violet instead of a green iridescence. 

Yespid^:. 

Polistes extkaneus, Kirby, loc. cit. 

Long. corp. 5 lin. 

Female. Head and thorax bright chestnut, clypeus pentagonal, bright 
yellow; mandibles with a yellow mark on each side: antennae dull 
yellow; the scape, second joint, and upper part of the third reddish; 
prothorax narrowly edged with yellow in front and behind : scutellum 
with a transverse yellow line ; metathorax edged with yellow on the 
sides; abdomen with the first joint yellow, with a broad red stripe, 
bordered behind with black, extending for two-thirds of its length above, 
second and third segments blackish brown, the third bordered with 
yellow behind, the fourth yellow bordered with blackish brown in front 
and behind, and the fifth and sixth dull reddish; wings brownish 
hyaline, with reddish-brown nervures, yellow stigma, and brown borders. 
(2025, Maru.) 

Closely allied to P. stigma, Fabr. from India, Ceram, and Celebes. 

ScOLIIDiE. 

Dielis laPvAtensis, Kirby, loc. cit. 

J ong. corp. 10| lin. 

Female. Black ; sides of thorax and abdomen, and legs clothed with 
black hair ; face black ; clypeus very finely punctured above, and more 
coarsely on its lower edge, and bordered at the sides and below with 
yellow pubescence; mandibles pitchy; thorax and abdomen finely 
punctured, much more densely than elsewhere on the sides of the abdo- 

26 



382 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



men and on the four terminal segments, both above and below : thorax 
and abdomen with strong steel-bine reflexions, especially on the basal 




dtelis lakatexsis. (With the permission of the council of tho 
Zoological Society.) 

half of the abdomen above ; wings deep violet-brown, second recurrent 
nervure incomplete, diverging from the first at the base and on the left 
wing ; the nervule connecting the recurrent nervures above the middle 
is also obsolete. (1957, Larat.) 

Much resembles the Australian Trielis anthracina, Burin., in appear- 
ance. 

Chrysidid^!. 

Chrysis melanops, Kirby, loc. sup. cit. 

Long, cor p. 5 lin. 

Male. Bright green, with a coppery reflection on the head and thorax 
(very bright coppery red wherever abraded) ; punctures large, close 
together, but not confluent ; ocelli black, the space between and immedi- 
ately around also blackish ; apex of abdomen (and summit, wdien viewed 
sideways) with a strong blue reflection; under surface of antenna?, the 
greater part of the hind legs, and the tips and under surface of the 
middle tibiae and middle tarsi brown ; abdomen sexdentate, with equal 
and rather pointed teeth of moderate size; wings brown. (20A9, 
Maru.) 

Pjobably allied to C. parallela, Brulle, from Timor; but that species 
is varied with blue on the head and thorax, instead of with copper. 

D I P T E R A. 

The only Dipt era in the collection were Plecia fulvicoUis, Wied., and 
Laphria gloriosa, Walk., both of which are common species in the Eastern 
Archipelago, and a Tabanus, possibly new, but in too bad condition to 
describe. 



VIII. — List of the Crustacea collected in the Timor-laut Islands by 
Mr. H. 0. Forbes. Determined by E. J. Miers, F.Z.S. 

Pilumnus vespertilio, Fabr. ad. $ . 
Neptunus pelagicus, LiDn. 
Tlialamita crenata, Eiippell, aJ. <J> . 



IN TIMOR- LAUT. 



383 



Ocypoda ceratophtbalma, Pallas, ad. $. 
Gelasmiiis vocans, Linn. ad. £ . ♦ 

„ tetragonon, Herbst, ad. . 

„ annulipes, M. Edw. ad. $ . 

Macrophthalmus pacificns, Dana, var. 
Grapsns strigosus, Heibst, ad. $ . 

Pacbygrapsus oceaniens, var. quadridentatus, Stimpsorj. 
Cardisoma earnifex, Herb&t, ad. $ . 
Myctiris longiearpus, Latr., ad. $ . 
Cceuobita rugosa, M. Edwards, ad. $ . 
Stenopus hispidus, Olivier, ad. 
I^seudosquilla ciliata, Fabr. ad. 



IX. — Vocabulary of Words used in the Ke Islands and in Ritabel, Larat, 
Timor-laut Islands. Compiled by the Author. 



Vocabulary. 


Kc Islands. 


Timor-laut (Larat). 


Ancbor 




Vatu. 


Ancbor, cord 




Warat. 


Anklets 


. • •• 


Riti. 


Ant 


Kirkim 




Arm 


Arumud 


Vet it,wbole arm , Alaad 


Arm, fore 




Tanuvur. 


Armlet of sbell .. 




Sistob. 


Armlet of ivory .. 




Lela. 


Asbes 


Kviatun 




Bad 


Sisian 


Sian. 


Bamboo 


Temar 


Temar. 


Banana 


Miiu 


Mou. 


Bat 


.. 


Yabar. 


Batatas (sweet potato) 




Ena. 


Batbe 


Suruk 


Titluruita ; Faliru. 


Beads 




Marumut. 


Bed 


Rin .. 


Taita. 


Belly 


Eboon 


Evoon. 


Belt, of sbeatb of Borassus 




Calco gnaman. 


Belt, woman's 




Calco. 


Beautiful (view) .. 


Labuang 




Bird 


Manoot 




Black 


Metme'tan 


Ngtoan ; akuda. 


Blood 


Lara.. 


Lara. 


Blood-vessel 




Urat-vali. 


Blue 


Timtum 


Niflali. 


Boat 


Habo 


Ba; hor. 


Body 


Uling 




Bone 


Lurin 


Ijorin. 


Bow 


Temar 




Box 


Sungoh 




Boy 


Koot-Koot 


Kosoku. 


Breast, male and female .. 


Bubur: Soos 


Bubu : Susu. 


Bring 




Mleba. 


Butterfly 




Aikuan. 


Cage 




Rabaukau. 


Calabasb, for eating out of 




riieiiga. 



384 



A NATURALIST'S WANDEBINGS 



Vocabulary, 


Kc Islands. 


Timor-laut (Larat). 


Chain, girdle worn by women . . 




Eboor. 


„ cord part of it 


.. 


Erit. 


., button for fastening 




Erit-matan. 


Chalk 




Yafoor. 


Child, male ; female 


Yanad 


Kosoku-vata ; yanad. 


Chief (of the people) 




Tamatmela. 


Chin 




Dernid. 


Chopper .. 


Gnir 




Clouds 




Mutan. 


Coat 




Eavit. 


Cocoa-nut ; young (1) ; old (2) . . 


Gnoor 


Gnoor; gnoorvua(l); 
gnoor-ka (2). 


Cold 


Tabrinin 


Ridiria. 


Comb 




Ooal. 


„ decorated .. 




Ooal lela. 


Come 


Modo 




Cradle 


Wel-wel .. 


Siwela. 


Dance 




Tabar; amtabar. 


Dance song 




Tjikelele. 


Daughter .. 


Yanad vat vat' 


Yana ma vata. 


Dav 


Hamar 




Deity 


Dooad 


Dooadilah. 


Doll 




Taran. 


Door 


Fid '.'. '.'. 


Inooan. 


Ear 


Aroon 


Arood. 


Earrings (of gold; earrings of 




Lor-lora ; welwelak (of 


dugong) 




Hahcore tooth). 


Earth .. 




Elanoo. 


East 




Timor; mololan. 


Eat 


Taan 


Mame ; Tufnau. 


Eclipse 


.. 


K arasok faria. 


Eggs 




Mata-teloor. 


Evening .. 




Lerivava. 


Exchange .. 


Tetivook 


Heloo. 


Eye 




Mata, 


Eyebrows .. .. 


Matadroon .. 


Mata-toovin- 


Face 


Mahad 


Wahad. 


Far 




Eoro. 


Father 


Yam am 


Yaman. 


Fathom 


Ref 


Erefa. 


Feather 


Manvoon 




Female 




Vata. 


Finished .. 


Eurok 


Eokiook. 


Fire 


Yaf 


Yafo. >. 


Fish (1), to fish (2) 


Ian(l) 


Woowjot (1), Ian (1), 
dawa woot (2). 


Flesh 


Hin .. 


Wawoo. 


Flower 




Ofuoon. 


Fly 


Eaboor 




Foot 




Lang. 


Forget 


Oobloofang 


Kablufau. 


Fowl 


Manoot 


Manoot. 


Friend* 


Ningyan 


Kid an g. 


Fruit 


Booai 




Give 




Malabokoo-ria. 



* In Yamgena (mainland) friend is Kes. 
Kamtia lo, 



"Friend, 1 am going,'" — "Kes 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 



385 







Vocabulary Kd Islands. 


Timor-laut (Lurat). 


Go 


Elbooa .. .. | 




Gold 


Mas ! 


Mas. 


Good 


Book .. .. 


Lolin. 


Great .. .. .. •• 


'■ 


Dawon. 


Gum | 


Natal. 


Hair .. .. .. .. Mooroot .. :. 


Wuoot. 


Half 


Tera. 


Hand .. .. .. .. Lituad 


Li mad tauan. 


Hard .. .. .. .. ! Oosin 


Nang::ebat. 


Harpoon .. .. .. .. 


Tear. 


Head Ood 


Oolood-watool. 


Hear .. ' .. .. .. 1 Mdennr .. .. i 




Heel 1 


Batawoo. 


Here .. .. .. •• Odani .. .. 1 


Haworokia. 


Honey .. .. .. .. Wenan .. .. j 




Horns (of house) . . . . 


Kom. 


Hot .. •• .. .. Naneli 


Xan<;anek. 


House .. .. .. .. Kahan 


Bah an. 


How many .. .. .. I 


Hongakbc .. 


Elira. 


Husband .. .. .. '.. 


Brinran 


Ha wan. 


Indian corn 




Selaroo. 


Iron .. .. .•• .. 


Tman 




Island .. .. .. ..1 


Nuhoo ya'iet 




Knee .. .. .. .. 


Ead toor 


Toorad. 


Knife (1) sheath (2) .. .. Gnib 


Enko, akooda. 


Know dou't 





Wolemgka. 


Kris 




Sariba. 


Large 




Dawon. 


Leaf 


Roan 




Leg 


Eiing (man's own 
leg), cam (another's) 


Ead. 


Lightning.. 




Eitik. 


Little 


Boot.. 


flilue aud white, 

\ Hemenmaran. 

-n , 1 blue, Hemexi 


Loincloth .. .. 




Bo-ok -l .' 

] antoan. 

/ white, Hemeii 

f burn. 


Long 


Blcofc 


Blawat. 


Lorie 




Lelooi'. 


Louse 


Oot 




Male 




Trana. 


Man 


Tomata 


Tomata. 


Man, young 




Ververuu. 


„ married 




Elrana. 


Manioc 




Tooal. 


Many 


Abed 


Leher. 


Marry 


Talan 


Sefa. 


Mat 


Bar 




Monkey 


Buoo 




Moon 


Ooan 


Voolan. 


Morning .. 




Ververra. 


Mosquito .. 


Emimoos 




Mother 


Nen .. 


Titi. 


Mouth 


G uen 


Soomar. 


Mail 


Kukud 





386 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Vocabulary. 


Ke Islands. 


Timor-laut (La rat) 


Nail, finger 


Kukud 




Navel 




Fooart. 


Neck 




Relad. 


Needle 


Boolin 




Night 


Dedan 




No, simple negative 


Waid 


Walafa; wah. 


No, refusal of anything .. 


Naa.. 


Nafena. 


Noon 




Lera si lola. 


North 


Madmar 


Mormar. 


Nose 


Niroon 


Niroot. 


Oil 


Gno .. 




Orchid 




Wookoo. 


Fig 


Babi 


Bab. 


Pillow 




Loolooni. 


Poison 




Elaan. 


Post 


Fler'.'. 




Rain (1) ; it rains (2) 


Doot(l) 


Doofc (1) ; dcot oofiri- 
roo (2). 


Eat 


Karoo 


Manhowan. 


Rattan 


Oo 


Oo. 


Red 


Voolvooli 


Noovooli. 


Remember (1) ; remember well 


Oofang nangken .. 


Ninana (1) ; masilolin 


(2) 




(2). 


Resin 




Natal. 


Reticulum (of palm) 




Nafit. 


Rice 


Kokat 


"Wan an. 


River 


Hoat 


Noar. 


Road (path) 


Ood 




Root 


Waar 




Sagueir (palm wine) 


Tooat 


Tooak. 


„ Bamboo for holding 




Ravivit. 


Salt 


Masin 


Sirak. 


Sand 


Gnwoor 


Gnuoor. 


Say ; what do you say ? . . 


Onalaka 




Sea.. 


Laut 


Meti ; tahat ; haletan. 


See 


Mlik 


Misilik. 


Sell 


Oomfed 


Fedi. 


Send 




Nigaan ngnoo. 


Sew 


Mhoar 




Shell 




Mahan. 


Shell, great clam (Tridacna) .. 




Mahan. 


Shield 


Ler .. 


Salawakoon (long). 
Gnelia (short). 


Silver 


Eubi 


Mas ninoor. 


Siii (1) ; basket for siii (2) 


Maneran 


Na'an (1) ; loovoo 


Skin 


Ulid 




Sky 




Lanit. 


Sleep 


Tatoob 


Tooba. 


Sleeping-mat 




Elari bangkoko. 


Small 




Koko. 


Smoke 


Yafmahum .. 


Yafuman. 


Snake 


Rubai 


Nifa. 


Son 




Yana ma brana 


Sour 


Kahir 


Kabi. 


South 


Tranan 


Trana. 


Speak 


Tangrilii 


Tangrilii (guttural). 


Spear 


Nangah 


Boonoot. 


Spoon 




Ooroo. 



IN TIMOR-LAUT. 



387 



Vocabulary. 



Ke Islands 



Star 
Suckle 
Sugar-cane 
Sun 
Sweet 
Tattooing 
Teeth 
Testicles 
There (to) 
Thatch 

Thread, thread of which native 
sarongs are made 

Thumb 

Thunder .. 

Tibia, tuberosity of 

Ties, made of sugar-palm 

Toe, great 

Toe, second (1) ; little toe (2) . . 

Toe-nail 

Toe ring .. 

To-day 

To-morrow 

Tongue 

Trousers .. 

Understand 

Very ; very beautiful 

Wake 

Wash 

Wash, hands 
Wash, teeth 

Water 

Waves (1); large waves (2) 



Wax 

Weep 

West 

White 

Wife 

Wind 

Window 

Wing 

Wire 

Wish 

Woman 

Wood 

Work 

Yellow 



Timor-laut (Larat). 



Nar 



Kaslooir 



Kar .. 

Nafdu'd 



Meran 



Okai 

Batai 
Burik 



Wehr 

Voo-vooat (1) 

Iiilin 
Mroon 

Nan^ear 

Hood 

Nioot 

Hainan 
Bilbal 
Ran gen 
Vat- vat 
Ai .. 

Toomtoom . . 



Narra. 

Toi masoosoo 

Tevoo. 

Lera. 

Minaminat. 

Belbela. 

Nifat ; nifa rida. 

K a marl. 

Tatin-heri. 

Rafat. 

Avat; aloan. 

Limad kcteh. 

Dodong. 

Gnaugoi. 

Eira. 

E'ad tan an keteh. 

Ead tanan frooan (1); 

frooan kewaren (2). 

E'ad uoo.i. 

Sitanea. 

Lervava. 

Vera-vera. 

Eard. 

(?) Kada. 

Fanowak. 

Ro'ak ; lolin roilk. 

(?) Wangir. 
Tiflaru frame. 

Tonumur. 
Ooiir. 

Saksahau (1); lalawa 
(2). 

Fakar. 

Warat mololan. 

Nangear. 

Ne'et ; lar. 
Yanella. 
Hala'an. 
Verveii. 
In an roh. 
Vala ; mnilat. 
Saifa. 
Tootwafa. 



Numerals : — 

1 = esa. 

2 = eroo. 

H = eteloo. 

4 =efat 

5 = elima. 

6 = enean. 

7 = efitoo. 



8 = ewaloo. 

9 = esi. 

10 = csapuloo. 
20 = ootrooa. 
30 = eteteloo. 
40 = ootfa'at. 



50 = ootlima. 
60 = ootnean. 
70 = ootfitoo. 
80 = ootwaloo. 
90 = ootsi. 
100 = ratoo. 



PAET V. 

IN THE ISLAND OF BURU. 



CHAPTER I. 

FROM KAJELI TO THE LAKE. 

From Amboina to Burn — Xajeli — Trade of Kajeli — Birds — River Apu — Wai 
Bloi village — Village of Wai Gelan — The Matakau — Forced encampments 
— Wai Klaba— A Pomalied mountain — Wasilale — Hospitable reception 
— Houses — Musical performance — Pomali signs — Arrive at Laha. 

Having packed up and despatched my Timor -laut collections 
to Europe, I left Amboina on the afternoon of the 7th of 

November (A remaining behind with our kind hosts) for 

Buru, an island a short distance to the west, with the inten- 
tion of reaching the central region round the rarely visited 
Lake of Wakolo. Next morning at daybreak we were steam- 
ing under the shade of the " Mother and Daughter " mountains 
of the Dutch maps, whose picturesquely rugged peaks, stand- 
ing out against the sky like giant minster towers, mark the 
eastern promontory of the Bay of Kajeli, in whose southern 
bend lies the town of the same name, where I landed in the 
forenoon, and was kindly offered a room in the house of Post- 
holder Bergmann. 

The town is situated on a low morassy plain, which, during 
the rainy season, is often wholly inundated, and has the 
reputation of being very unhealthy, the people being afflicted 
with malarial and rheumatic fevers, and I am told also with 
sterility. Its most conspicuous edifice is the Fort, enclosed in 
massive embrasured walls erected in 1778 by the Dutch close 
to the shore, to protect the Bay from the pirate hordes who 
used to make Buru their special slave-kidnapping ground. 
There is now, however, a distance of from seven hundred to 
eight hundred yards of a tall grass covered sandy flat separat- 
ing it from the margin of the water, which has been gained 
from the sea in little over 100 years. 

Its great items of export are fish (which, during the latter 
months of the year are driven into the Bay in < lormous 



392 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



quantities), sago, and the famous Kajuput oil,* distilled by 
the natives from the leaves of the gum trees {Melaleuca 
Kajuputl) which form a large part of the vegetation of the 
shores of the Bay. In the year previous to my visit 9u',000 
bottles, worth £9,200, were shipped for Macassar, Singapore, 
and China. From Masaretti, one of the villages in the south 
coast, a large trade is done with Amboina in Katjang beans 
(Arachis hypogxa), in Hotjong (Eleusine coracana), and in 
pigs, in exchange for copper gongs, in whose music the natives 
greatly delight. These pigs, brought from the mountainous 
parts of the interior, having been fed on sago, which gives 
their flesh a specially fine flavour, fetch a higher price in the 
market than any other. 

The island is divided into rajah-ships, whose rajahs reside 
in Kajeli and spend most of their time under the influence of 
opium. 

One of the chief points of interest to me in Bum, was the 
fact that it has been considered — not on any very certain data 
— as the starting-point of the final dispersion, of the autoch- 
thenes of the archipelago, the Mahori (or Polynesian) races,! 
eastward to their Pacific homes. As between the coast tribes 
and the Alefurus of the interior, who, according to their own 
superstitions " durst not approach the sea so near as to hear 
it breaking on the shore without being struck with dire sick- 
ness," there has never been much inter-communication, I was 
very anxious to see these little contaminated people of the 
interior. 

I was disappointed, however, to find that my official letters 
for aid were useless without " instructions " from the Resident 
(I had applied officially for them to Mr. Piiedel, but he 
abstained from taking any notice of my letter), the Post-holder 
was not at liberty to assist me in obtaining porters or other 
transport to the lake ; but as he was himself very soon to go 
there officially, he would be very pleased, he said, if I would 
accompany him. As it was impossible for me to obtain the 
necessary transport except through the rajahs at the instance 
of the Post-holder, I was glad on any terms of the chance 

* This is the Dutch, spelling of the Malay Kayu=wood or tree, puti 
= white, from the colour of the hark of the tree, 
f Consult Stanford's Compendium of Geography, Australasia, app., p. 612. 



IN BUBU. 393 

of penetrating into this interesting island. Meanwhile I 
employed myself in collecting round Kajeli, where I obtained 
many of the species of birds discovered there by Mr. Wallace, 
and described by him in the " Proceedings of the Zoological 
Society" for 18G3, among them the interesting oriole (Oriolus 
buruensis) and the honey bird (Philemon moluccensis) which 
it mimics, both closely resembling the corresponding species 
shot in Larat, as well as the pretty Kajeli kingfisher (Ceyx cajeli), 
the Aprosmicttts buruensis, and the rare Eclectus intermedins. 

On the 14th we started for our first stage towards the Lake, 
the village of Wai Bloi (where we were to find our transport 
men waiting us), accompanied by the Eajah of Kajeli, in 
whose district the Lake lies, and the Pati of Lisela through a 
portion of whose territory we had to pass. The way to Wai 
(river) Bloi, the first village beyond the morass land fringing 
the shore, lay np the river Wai Apu, which debouches in 
the centre of the Kajeli Bay, an hour's sail from the town. 

The river near its embouchure splits into many arms among 
the mangrove swamps, then winds for hours through low 
morass between banks green with fern-hedges dipping their 
fronds into the sluggish water under the shade of tall slender 
trees. Higher up these gave place to Pandan thickets out of 
which rose tall Lontar-, Pinang-, and wild sago- (Metroxyhn 
flare) palms, and graceful tree ferns. Where the banks were 
less submerged the jungle became very dense behind a thick 
barrier of Mangabrabu in profuse flower (Cerbera odallam and 
C. lactaria) Apocynaceous shrubs, which lined the river sides 
for miles, and dotted the water with their white blossoms. 
Out of this thicket an occasional black cuckoo (Eudynamis 
ransomi) flew out as we passed, while on the taller trees whoso 
heads shot up above the jungle sat many white Nutmeg- 
pigeons {Myristicivora melanura) and here and there a red- 
necked hawk (Accipiter rubricoUis). 

After four hours of hard rowing, the blue hills shot up 
right ahead and broke the gloom of the monotonous vege- 
tation which had bounded our view, and between which, 
throughout the rest of the hot' afternoon, our prau was now 
slowly dragged through frequent rapids, now laboriously 
poled upwards against the swiftening stream. Baked in our 
cramped position in the narrow boat, the journey would 



}94 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



have been almost unbearable, but for the frequent flash of 
insect — bright Papilios and Ornithopteras — and of bird — the 
orange Pachycephalas, the yellow White-eyes (Zosterops), lazily 
flapping Herons, and the blue-plumaged scarlet-billed Water- 
hens (Porphyrio melanopterus) — which darted to and fro across 
the stream. 

At dark, in the midst of a heavy rain, we reach the con- 
fluence of the Wai Bloi, about 200 feet above the sea, where 
several Alefurus — the name by which all the natives of the 
interior I met call themselves — were waiting to carry us on 
suspended chairs to the village about a mile distant. The 
Alefurus can scarcely be said to inhabit villages ; they live 
more frequently in isolated houses on the patch of land they 
cultivate or in small communities. Those, however, within 
certain regions denominated Soas seem to have claims on each 
other of consanguinity or friendship ; as if the members of a 
large village had dispersed, and, while living separately, still 
recognised all the former ties in times of difficulty or war. 
Each Soa has its chief, and Merinyo or under chief, who is 
responsible to Porterus, officials who receive in the name of 
the rajah the tribute of their gardens and fields as well as 
compel them to give their produce, in exchange for coast goods 
at an exorbitant profit. 

Next day we took a westward course through fields of tall 
Kussu grass dotted with Kayu-puti trees, and through swamps 
full of sago palms. At early forenoon we rested for a little at the 
village cluster of the River Gelan, one of the tributaries of the 
River Apu. Overarching the path was an open shed with 
benches along each side on which we reclined, serving possibly 
as a general meeting room or rest-house for passers correspond- 
ing to the Baled of Sumatra, or the Baluai of Amboina. 
When we arrived we found a sleeping child tied in a blanket 
swaying to and fro at the end of a rope hung from the rafters. 
It had been thus left to be rocked and nursed by the wind, till 
its mother returned from the fields ! As soon as a traveller 
arrived I noticed that he was at once waited on by the women 
of the village who brought siri, betel and chalk, and a hot 
ember to light his cigarette. The women seemed to live in 
great subjection to the men, who never did anything for them- 
selves if a woman was within call. 



IN BURU. 



395 



Their houses were of the most miserable description, fairly 
well-roofed but without any furniture or conveniences, with the 
exception of a narrow platform raised a few feet above the 
earthen floor for sleeping on. Behind each house I observed 
a small thatched structure which 
they called the Matakau, the 
sacred place of the Alefuru 
wherein, by burning dammar, 
he propitiates the Great Spirit 
Allah Stalla. The Matakau is 
a small platform erected on a 
short pole and roofed over with 
palm-leaf thatch from whose 
eaves all round hangs down a 
long fringe of split-up palm 
leaflets. Inside are preserved a 
knife, a sj)ear, a Kau turin or 
thick walking-stick constantly 
carried by the natives on their 
journeys (with these they are ■= 
adepts at quarter-staff; I was 
much amused by seeing two 
children practising with singu- matakau. 

lar skill their cuts and guards, quite unconscious of being 
watched), a dish containing siri, betel and chalk, and a piece of 
scarlet cloth. Before sowing any of their fields, some of the 
seed is always placed inside the Matakau, dammar is burned, 
and their ritual performed in order to secure its fructification. 

Their most dreaded and respected oath is made, holding the 
sharp top of a sago palm leaf in the hand, on the sacred knife 
and spear taken from the Matakau ; for they believe in the power 
of these pomali-weapons to harm them at any unguarded 
moment. Another form of adjuration is in drinking after 
making their declaration, water in which had been placed salt 
(that they may melt away), a blade of Kussu-grass (that they 
may be scarred as by its edges), a lance and a knife (that 
their bodies be pierced, cut and run through) if they have 
sworn falsely. 

Proceeding on our way, we camped for the night in the 
forest under a canopy made of the long leaves of the sago- 




396 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



palm cut down and arranged for us by the Alefurus. Un- 
fortunately for the quick progress of our march, my German 
companion, unaccustomed to travel, was easily fatigued, and 
both the native chiefs were devotees of the opium pipe, and 
were constantly finding all manner of excuses for a halt too 
readily acquiesced in by Mr. Bergmann. No sooner was the 
order given than their blankets were at once spread on the 
ground, and the soothing narcotic produced. 

Next day we journeyed through Kussu-grass fields, with 
scarcely a vestige of forest, and only sparse belts or low scrub 
of Melaleuca and Melastoma, without having the satisfaction of 
seeing a single bird or insect. The country now began to rise 
in successive steps, first over a height of 500 feet, down 400 
feet, to rise again 600 feet. 

On the third day we were compelled to camp at noon on the 
banks of the Klaba, on another of those excuses — that no 
other stream could be reached within the day's march — which 
the Eajah of Kajeli, who had never gone the road in his life, 
was constantly making to enable him to resume his soporific 
smoke. The Klaba, like all the other streams we had crossed, 
was making for the Apu. The valley was set with more clumps 
of trees and cycads than any of those we had yet traversed. 

A short way behind I had observed tall bamboo spikes 
bristling thickly among the grass, for the purpose evidently of 
catching deer and pig driven towards them by firing the grass 
in a wide semicircle around them; After our huts — made of 
the bark of Gommersonia echinata, a very abundant tree 
there — were erected, I started with my hunters and some of 
the Alefurus as beaters, in hopes of securing a haunch of 
venison for our larder. We were fortunate in meeting within 
an hour with two little herds, from the second of which I secured 
a fine young stag. While it was being prepared, I scoured the 
bed of a dry stream behind the camp, and caught numerous 
fine Tiger Beetles (Cecindelidse) and many species of a Tenaris, 
a butterfly closely resembling the Tenaris urania of Amboina, 
but being much paler, I have separated it by the name 
T. buruensis. 

Next day another very short march was made, a halt being 
called on the pretext that a ridge of the mountain in front of 
us was Kiiing or tabooed. As we could not pass over it before 



IN BURU. 397 

sundown, and might not bo camped on it, we had to pass the 
night again in the forest in a dense rain, on the slope above our 
former camp, 1500 feet above the sea. At break of next day 
we continued the ascent of Mount Makka to about 2000 feet 
above the sea, passing through low sparse jungle full of Dipteris 
horsfielclii ferns and thickets of the bracken (which so often 
accompanies it), till we came on the Kuing region which had 
been a great forest, but had only recently been burned down 
leaving many of the lifeless stems standing, and from the 
falling of whose dead limbs the Alefurus seemed to stand in 
great dread. No one dared to speak to his neighbour during 
our passage ; I was besought not to shoot, and above all no 
one might use certain proscribed words for fear of disaster. 
No Buruese of the interior, it is said, can dare to approach 
the sea so near as to hear the beating of the surf without 
falling ill. Whether the superstition has arisen from the fact 
that the sea could be seen from the high elevation we were 
on, or whether it was because it might be the residing place of 
hostile spirits, I do not know. All along the way I could hear 
them repeating some sort of invocation, and on quitting the 
noxious region, one of the men stopped behind to erect another 
of those little white stakes three to five ieet high, which we 
had seen at various places along the tabooed region — a branch 
carefully stripped of all its bark, its extremity wrapped round 
with a piece of scarlet cloth, and sharpened, to be tipped with a 
morsel of pinang nut. I imagine these pillars to be thanks- 
giving offerings to the spirit of the place for a safe passage. 

Descending to the river Wohangan, which we crossed at 
about 1000 feet above the sea, wo halted for lunch, the 
Alefurus rubbing their limbs and bodies till they were quite 
blistered, with the leaves of a very sharp stinging nettle, 
JJrtica cvalifolia, " to take away their fatigue." We had at 
last entered a more wooded country, and I noted on the damp 
shade many fine Zingiheracess never seen before in flower, and 
a Didymoearpus with a white corolla margined with deep 
indigo. Along the banks of the stream I observed also quite 
a number of butterflies I had not seen elsewhere, and were 
I to return to Bum I should certainly make a prolonged stay 
near this river. 

Eain compelled us again to camp in the forest. After a 
27 



398 A NATURALIST'S WANDEBIKGS 

comfortless night we ascended the steep side of the Woresa, 
this time to 3000 feet, camping on its farther slope in another 
deluge of rain, in which we were thoroughly drenched. The 
Alefurus extemporised for themselves elegant shelters by 
piling a thatch of extra branches on the tied- together tops 
of neighbouring bushy shrubs. These, dotted about round 
our larger bark-made huts, formed, when lit up by our large 
central fire, quite a picturesque camp, which we were too wet to 
be in a humour to enjoy much. 

We proceeded next day in a very unfit state from the chill 
of the previous night, but we had not gone far when some 
anxiety was caused by finding the ground set with bamboo 
spikes. Not knowing whether this was a sign of hostility 
towards us or against some former enemy we kept the baggage 
back a little and went on ourselves ahead, with loaded arms ; 
but finding no other traces we descended without further 
thought of ill to the Wai Gelan, another large river, making, 
as all the streams we had yet crossed, to join with tributaries 
of the tributaries of the Apu. Except at a few spots, the 
paucity of birds, insects, and also snakes for which Buru has 
a bad reputation but of which w r e had not seen a single 
specimen, surprised me very much. From the Wai Gelan the 
ascent — each height exceeded the one before it all the way to 
the coast — was very steep and slippery, which the AleTurus, 
inciting each ether with cries of Gossa, gossa (good, good), 
required all their strength to get our baggage up. At 2400 
feet, coming on a few houses called Wasilale in the middle of 
a forest garden, the first signs of life we had seen since leaving 
the river Bloi, we decided to halt for the night, and press 
forward to the lake next day. 

We took up our quarters in a rest-house of the most abject 
description, but quite in keeping with their own miserable 
dwellings. Three or four men, who had shortly after our 
arrival started off evidently to their gardens, returned carrying 
between them a large pig which they had killed to mark the 
rare event of European visitors in their midst. The women and 
girls hurried about bringing blocks of stone, with which they 
formed a large paved area to serve as an oven, whereon they 
piled a roaring fire till the stones began to burst from the heat 
in loud reports. As soon as the stones were heated to the 



IN BURU. 399 

heart, hastily clearing off the fire they threw the pig body-bulk 
on the glowing stones, closely covering it up with fresh green 
banana leaves. In little over an hour we had served up to us 
a piece of pork baked to perfection, the most deliciously 
flavoured I have ever tasted. When we had rested some time 
after our meal their jubilation was further marked by a musical 
performance given in one of their huts, and, as we were invited 
to attend, I had an opportunity of seeing the interior arrange- 
ment of their houses. 

They were constructed of uneven strips of tree bark, roughly 
set up side by side on the unlevelled ground, held in place by 
narrow rinds of bamboo on each side, tightly tied together by 
thongs at the gaps between each strip of bark. By these wide 
chinks the pigs and dogs made the dwelling as much theirs 
as the owner's. The roof was of palm thatch and badly put 
on patches of bark. At both gables was a quadrangular hole 
to serve as doorway and window, closed by a squarish piece of 
bark hung by a thong through a hole in the wall above it. 
Between these openings there ran a central passage, full (as I 
saw it) of pools of water. The space on each side of this 
passage was divided off by low bark partitions into three or 
four narrow stalls (across the top of which was piled their 
store of wood logs) such as might be found in the worst 
possible oowhouse ; while against the wall where one would 
look for a manger was a small platform raised two or 
three feet from the ground, to serve for seat or bed. The 
fire was made anywhere which was for the moment most 
convenient — in the passage, or in one of the stalls — the smoke 
oozing through the numerous chinks and by a small patch 
raised in one of the rows of thatch. There was not in the 
whole dwelling a single article of furniture or any decorative 
artifice or a single device for affording convenience or comfort. 

To accommodate me with a seat to listen to the musical 
" function," a large stone had to be brought in. The per- 
formers, who were of both sexes, disposed themselves in the 
passage on stones and logs. The men sang an improvised 
song to their own vigorous accompaniment on the native Ufa, 
or drum, to which the women, sitting on their heels, languidly 
supporting their heads on their arms, which rested on their 
knees, contributed an unchanging refrain at the end of every 



400 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



few words of the song. The men seemed to enjoy themselves, 
often laughing heartily at their own improvised conceits, but 
the women mi«-ht have been absolute automata ; for not a 
single expression of pleasure, interest, or enjoyment ever 
passed over their impassive features. The exhibition was 
one of the saddest possible pictures of the miserable position 
among the Alefurus of the woman, who, though not treated 
with cruelty or harshness, lives in abject uncomplaining 
slavery — as if for the man alone all things, woman especially, 
were created. 

Next morning, starting early, we continued our ascent 
through dense forest, full of Ternstroemaceous trees to 
3600 feet above the sea, the highest point reached in our 
journey. Just at the summit I came on a curious Pomali sign 
set up in the forest to protect probably some part of it from 
depraclation. Its exact meaning I could not find out. It 
consisted of a low house shaped structure, somewhat like the 
Matakau seen at Wai Bloi village, and fixed in the ground, 
protected from harm by large wide couples of wood. Under 
its cover six little pillars were set in the ground ; on the top 
of one was a peg a few inches high whose tip was set into a 
cross-piece of sago-palm pith forming a T device, while into 
this cross-piece were inserted two small nails of wood, each 
bearing a pellet, the root of the Halia (? the officinal ginger) ; 
on two others, whose tops were encircled by a rattan girdle, 
within which several wooden wedges were driven, sharp 
bamboo spikes (such as are stuck in the ground to wound 
unwary travellers) were suspended by a cord ; the fourth had 
its summit split for some length by two or three wedges of 
wood ; the fifth, girdled with a rattan ring, had a piece of halia 
inserted below a chip of wood and transfixed to the summit 
with a peg, while the sixth was a bamboo full of water. The 
Alefurus accompanying me said, that each pillar indicated 
a species of retribution that would overtake the trespasser. 

Commencing our descent we reached a stream running in 
a westerly direction, which conducted us to a few houses on the 
margin of the Lake, which had been visited by white men but 
three or four times in as many hundred years. 



IN BUBU. 401 



CHAPTER II. 

AT LAKE WAKOLO. 

The Lake — The people there — Garments — Cultivation — Anns and accoutre- 
ments — Marriage — Death rites — Superstitions about the lake — Explana- 
tion of its position and of the absence of fish in it — New birds — Great 
disappointment — Return to Kajeli — Thence to Amboina — Compelled to 
leave the Moluccas — A kind farewell — Leave for Timor. 

Mr. Bergmans, the Post-holder, had hoped, he said, to find 
some 2000 people living- round the lake, and to stay for at 
least a week or ten days ; but we found only some seven or 
eight houses as poor as the few we had already passed, and he 
decided on the afternoon of our arrival to start back in a couple 
of days to the coast. This was a grievous disappointment to 
me after so difficult and arduous a journey. As he would not 
be induced to stay, and without the presence of the Rajahs who 
would accompany him I could obtain nothing, either in the 
way of food or of porterage, I could only make the most, 
therefore, of the few hours at my disposal. I devoted the 
remainder of the first day to seeing something of the people, 
and in sketching their features. 

The lake mountaineers, living so far removed from all coast 
interference, and rarely, if ever, visiting the shore, should be 
better representatives of the Buruese than the low country 
tribes who are now quite tinctured in manners and customs, as 
well as in race, by an infinite variety of influences — and where 
indeed is the race now to be found not so contaminated by 
extraneous forces ? The ideas as well as the manufactures of 
western lands are beginning to be felt and seen in the huts 
of the rudest tribes, and among the people the most distant 
from civilisation. It is therefore more incumbent than ever 
on all travellers to record with the utmost fidelity every 
minutiae of the customs and ideas of the rude peoples they 
encounter, for with the disappearance of their untainted 



402 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



legends, words and thoughts, will die out a chapter of far- 
past history that can never be recovered again on the globe. 

The men are of medium height — averaging about 5 feet 
2 inches — and a little taller than the women. They are a 
weak, emaciated, ill-conditioned, and somewhat effeminate- 
looking race. Many of them suffer from the fungoid skin 
disease so often met with among the badly nurtured peoples 
further to the east. They are not a warlike people, and are 
not head-hunters like the Ceramese. 

In colour they are brown, or yellowish brown, and, as far as 
my observations go, none of them are black as the Aru people 
are. Their hair is fairly abundant on the head, but not 
profuse, in fact rather scanty on other parts of the body. 
Their faces are bare, as a rule, though a few have a few long 
hairs at the corners of the mouth and the upper lip. The 
head-hair is not worn in the high-matted frizzled coiffure 
as seen among some of the Papuans, but it is curled in 
a more or less loose manner well seen in the figure on the 
opposite page. It is parted in the centre as a rule, and 
allowed to hang down on both sides in loose irregular curls, 
appearing through and above the kerchief which is worn 
round the head. Dr. Bastian, in his f Indonesien,' states that 
the Wakolo Lake Buruese have smooth hair ; but this is not 
absolutely the case. Nearer the coast, however, hair as straight 
as in any Sundanese is met with. That form of nose with 
high dorsum and over-hanging tip which I observed conspicu- 
ously in Timor-laut, and subsequently in the interior of Timor, 
as seen in the concluding Part of this book, was not observed 
among the Buruese ; nor yet that tall and more athletic build 
of man (and woman) which could not escape observation in 
both of the islands just named. The Wakolo women had the 
same meek and submissive bearing that I had noticed in those 
met with nearer the coast. 

Very few of them wear ornaments beyond a small stud of 
silver in the ear ; the children are provided with a piece of 
dried intestine of the Cuscus in their ear-lobes, and round their 
necks ; while both sexes wear armlets of shell, of a thong-like 
corneous coralline called by the Malays ahar bahar, and of the 
intestine of the Cuscus. 

The garments worn by the men were the usual T-bandage, 




NATIVE OP WAKOUO VILLAGE, LAKE WAKOLO. 



IN BU11U. 403 

and by the women a short sarong, or petticoat, or a long loose 
smock-like robe. 

In fields cleared out of the forest— which seem to belong 
to the man who has cleared them, and his heirs, as lono- as 
they do not return to wild forest — they cultivate tobacco, 
corn, and the usual sweet tubers, species of Convolvulus and 
Colocasia, which they eat to the juice of the boiled Saun 
(Pandanus ceranncus) oue of the most magnificent scarlet 
fruits of their forests. Not much rice is grown, but it is 
received in exchange from the Alefurus of the lower country 
for tobacco and tubers, tifas (or drums), and the strom* - woven 
Coi or wallet, so universally carried. I was not permitted 
to go into their fields, as strangers and coast people are 
tabooed, for fear of some evil befalling their poomalied seeds, 
and cannot, therefore, speak of their mode of cultivation. 
From the cotton (Gossypium micranthum), which tbey cultivate 
themselves, they make their own thread. 

The only baggage an Alcfuru carries with him besides his 
Jcau-turm or cudgel, and a spear, is the Coi, a strong satchel 
slung on his buttocks by a cord round his waist, in which he 
carries his tobacco and those prized comforts of his tribe — siri 
leaves, betel-nut, and chalk often contained, in a slightly orna- 
mented gourd. In former times the women in every village 
in Burn could weave these cois ; now, however, the lower 
country tribes, having acquired increased wealth by the 
development of trade in the various products they so easily 
grow or rear, and with wealth laziness by their ability to supply 
their wants without labouring, have quite forgotten or aban- 
doned the art, and are dependent for their supply on the 
mountaineers to whom the knowledge of their manufacture 
is confined. The cloth, called by them Jcain fulca, of which 
these satchels are made is a very strong almost indestructible 
canvas, which they render perfectly waterproof by rubbing 
into it the juice expressed from the bark of a tree, Jculit rofu, 
probably one of the Artocarpeai. To them is also confined the 
art of hollowing out of Pinang and Nangka (Artocarjms) logs, 
of the tifas or drums, which are so indispensable at all their 
feasts and religious ceremonies, as well as of the manufacture 
of their spears and knives, the art of iron working also being 
forgotten by the dwellers nearer the coast. 



404 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Marriage among them, as far as I could learn, was the simple 
purchase of a woman for a large sum in all manner of trade 
articles, and is celebrated by a feast. Very often she is pur- 
chased when yet a child, and is reared in the house of her 
master and husband, who may have as many wives as he 
can afford. If the husband cannot pay the full price at once, 
his family have to undertake part of the responsibility of 
payment, and till then the woman is in servitude to the whole 
familv. On the death of the man she is reckoned as part 
of his goods, and falls with his other property to his heirs, 
who may sell her again to another suitor for a price not 
less than she has cost. The children of the union are the 
father's exclusive property and thereafter of his relations. If 
no suitor desires to marry his widow she remains in the 
cheerless lot of a menial slave and concubine of the husband's 
family. 

Their death rites are also curious and interesting as being 
in some respects similar to those practised in different parts 
of Australia. As soon as life is extinct the man's body is 
brought out on a bier in front of his house and laid on the 
ground, with the head in front of a stake driven into the ground. 
The bier is struck several times and the questions put, " Have 
you died by the will of Allah Stalla?" or "Has death been 
the result of the machinations of mortal man ? " If the body 
move forwards to strike the stake, the reply is supposed to be 
in the affirmative. If the intimation is that death has not 
been natural, the corpse is questioned in order to find the 
delinquent through all the Rajah-ships, till the correct one is 
indicated ; then through all the Soas or villages, and through 
all the individuals of the selected Soa, till the culprit's name is 
obtained, who is at once seized and condemned to pay a death 
fine, for the backbone a certain price, for each right and left 
rib, for each hand and foot, for the head and the contents of 
the body, each a fixed sum ; altogether a large amount in 
every species of trade article. 

The Buruese are firm believers in Swangies, or spirits of 
their fellows endowed with the power to go about disembodied, 
working evil (generally) to their neighbours. An individual 
with this power is greatly dreaded, and derives not a few 
presents, for the purpose of retaining his goodwill, as also 



IN BU1W. 405 

payment from those who desire some evil to befall an enemy 
without suspicion of its originator. The Swangi is supposed 
to be able to cover with misfortune whom he will without 
their being aware whence the disaster comes. 

Their dead are buried in the forest in some secluded spot 
far from other graves, and marked often by a merang or grave 
pole, and over which at certain intervals their relatives place 
tobacco, cigarettes, and various offerings. When the body is 
decomposed, the son or nearest relative disinters the head, 
wraps a new cloth about it, and places it in the Matakau at the 
back of his house, or in a little hut erected for it near the 
grave. It is the representative of his forefathers whose behests 
he holds in the greatest respect. 

The day after our arrival was spent from break of dav in 
botanising, collecting birds, and in examining the lake. This 
is a magnificent sheet of water, several miles in diameter and 
some 40 to 50 fathoms deep, indented with many beautiful 
bays, embracing the hills which abruptly rise up from it on all 
sides. It was not an easy matter to get the Merinyo of the 
place to give us a boat and rowers to make an examination of its 
margins, and only after a long invocation to the spirit of the 
Lake would he consent to accompany us. It is only with 
the utmost awe and dread that they trust themselves on its 
surface. They have many strange legends concerning it. One 
of these is that at certain periods a Lagundi tree {Vitex sp.) 
suddenly grows up the centre of the Lake, its appearance 
being accompanied by fearful storms of wind and waves, and 
the terrified cries of the birds that crowd its margins. On 
the subsiding of the storm the Lagundi is found to have dis- 
appeared. Another superstition is, that on the firing of a gun 
a thunderstorm is liable to break out, sent by the angered 
spirits. Every chief, therefore, on his arrival at the Lake 
plants a white stick in the ground as a signal of peace. The 
Wakolo men who rowed me kept up an invocation the whole 
time we were out, and they positively refused to take me 
out into the middle or even very far from the shore. A 
crocodile — one of the animals sacred in the mythology of Bum 
— is also supposed to reside in the lake, whence once a year 
it pays a visit to the shore. 

It is singular that no fish except eels live in its waters. 



406 A NATURALIST'S WANDEB1NGS 

Lying in the very centre of the island, at a height of some 
1900 feet above the sea, and surrounded by high hills — except 
at one point, -where, it is said, though I could not detect any- 
thin"- to assure me of the truth of the statement, that the 
Wai Nipe runs out of it' — it has much the appearance of 
a lake filling up the crater of an old volcano, to which their 
legend of its periodical troubling may have some reference. 
The margins of the water were set with flags and shrubby 
pandans, which gave shelter to thousands and thousands of 
ducks (Bendrocygna guttata) — of which I secured a large 
number — little Grebes (Podiceps), and Cormorants (Phalocra- 
corax), and several species of Water-hen {Porpliyrio). The 
whole day was spent in skinning these birds, and putting up 
the plants in drying paper. 

On the following day some of the women returning from 
their fields brought mo a specimen of a Myzomela, which they 
had taken with the gum of an Artocarpus tree, which delighted 
me immensely, as no species of this genus was then known to 
extend so far to the west. It turned out on examination to be 
an undescribeel species, which I have named Myzomela ivalco- 
loensis. I asked them to show me where the specimen had 
been obtained ; but as it was in their gardens which are 
tabooed to coast people, I would not persuade them to admit 
me. On offering, however, a large reward for additional speci- 
mens, several women set off back to their fields, whence in the 
afternoon they returned with a quite number all fluttering on 
a string ; most of them had lost their tails and were entirely 
smeared with gum, a few only being at all presentable. 
Among these true scarlet Myzomelas was an immature Nec- 
tarine bird in a wretched condition, with the basal portion of 
its beak greenish-yellow and the rest black, which is pro- 
bably also another and unknown species of Myzomela. By 
working continuously right through the night till sunrise, 
the whole of the skins were ready for transport, as well as 
nearly a hundred species of plants. 

When the coolies were mustered to shoulder the baggage 
only two or three put in an appearance, the rest had de- 
serted, and only after impressing into our service some of 
the women did we manage to start with the food necessary for 
the journey. It was not with the most amiable feelings towards 



IN BURU. 407 

the Authority at Amboina that I was forced to leave behind 
me the herbarium I had taken such pains to collect. The 
skins I carried myself, leaving my own men free to assist with 
the food supply. Beaching, with our overburdened porters, 
the little hamlet of Wasilale, where we had spent a night 
on our coming, my companion who was suffering from fever, 
wished to remain till the attack had passed ; we agreed, there- 
fore, that, as I was anxious to reach Kajeli before the arrival 
of the Amboina steamer, I should press on in advance with 
my own servants and baggage, and on arrival at the Bloi 
river send him the necessary additional porters. On the fore- 
noon of the fifth day from the Lake I reached the Wai Bloi 
village, whence I despatched assistance to my companion, and 
reached Kajeli the same evening. 

I had hoped to be able to get across to the region in the 
S.E. of the Bay of Kajeli, where alone in Buru the singular 
Hog-deer (the Babirusa), which is known elsewhere only in 
Celebes, was to be found ; but again I was disappointed for 
want of porters and rowers. This singular animal uses its 
curious upturned and hooked teeth, the natives told me, to 
hold to the bottom of ponds by, when hard pressed by hunters. 

So disappointed was I with my trip to Buru, from which 
I had hoped much, and might have accomplished much but 
for a display of absurd and petty jealousy, that I was glad 
when the steamer of the 12 th arrived from Batjian to carry me 
back to Amboina, which was reached the same evening. 

Finding that Mr. Rieders attitude towards us was such as to 
make it quite useless to attempt to carry on any investiga- 
tions in the islands of the Moluccas under his sway, I determined 
to leave for a time to attempt a journey in the interior of 
the little known region of Timor under the Portuguese crown. 
It is only fair to state that the conduct of the Resident was 
utterly repudiated by the Dutch Government in Java, and 
on my arrival in Batavia, six months afterwards, I received 
from them the kindest and most ample apologies. 

The steamer, from which I had just disembarked, having 
to remain two days in Amboina, we hastily packed up our 
belongings and continued our voyage in the same vessel. The 
friends through whom this last sojourn in Amboina had been 
made so full of enjoyment, Mr, Justice and Madame Tan 



408 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Deventer, the Commander of the troops Colonel Demini, now 
H.E. the Governor of Acheen — to whom I am indebted for 
the gift of a large and valuable collection of ethnological 
objects from Ceram — Major Van der Weide, the Chief of 
the Medical Staff, and Dr. and Madame Machik, our most 
kind hosts to whom we owe our introduction to so many- 
delightful friends, paid us the compliment of accompanying 
us on board to say farewell. 



JN BUIiU. 409 



APPENDIX TO PART V. 



I. List of the BIRDS OF Buru, compiled from papers by Mr. A. E. 
Wallace in P. Z. S. 1863, p. 18-36, % Count T. Salyadori in Ann. 
del Mus. Civico di btor. Nat. di Genova, VIII., the Author's own 
Collection, and other sources. 

1. Faliastur leucosternus, Gould. 

2. Baza rheinwardti, Sch. Timor. Moluccas. 

3. Accipiter rubricollis, Wal. Ceram. Gilolo. 

4. Accipter cruentus. Gould. Timor. 

5. Athene hantu, Wallace. 

6. Scops Liiruensis, Sharpe. 

7. Geort'ioyus riio«lo| s, G. B. Gr. Amboina. Ceram. Goram. 

8. Eclectus caidinalis, Bodd. Moluccas. New Guinea. 
0. Tanygnathus nffinis, Wal. Amboina. Ceram. 

10. granrineus, Gm. 

11. A|Tosmictus burueusis, Salv. 

12. TrichoglofSus cyanogrammus, Wagl. Ceram. Papuan Islands. 

13. Eos l wbra, Gm. Amboina. Ceraii). Matabello Islands. 

14. Capiiinulgns mncrurus, Horsf. Whole Archipelago. 

15. Dendiuchelidon mys aceus, Less. Moluccas. New (Juiuea. 
10. Cacomant's virescens, Briigg. 

17. Eudynamis orien talis, Linn. Ceram. 

18. Centropus medius, Bp. Ceram. Gilolo. 

19. Scythrops nova>hollandia\ Lath. Timor. 
2'». Sauropatis chloris. Bod. Whole Archipelago. 

21. Halcyon sancta, Via. tfc Horsf. Eastward Islands. 
2'2. Alcedo ispidoiiles, Less. Celebes. Gilolo. 
28. Tanysiptera ncis, WaU. 

24. Ceyx Cajeli, Wall. 

25. Merops ornatus, Laih. 

26. Eurystomus pacirlcus. Lath. Eastward Islands. 

27. Pitta rubrinucha. Wall. 

28. Budytes viridis, Gm. 

29. Acrocephalus australis, Gould. 

30. Cisticola rustica, Wall. 

31. Phyllopneu^te javanica, Bp. 

32. Oriolus buruensi*, Qnoij & Gains. 

33. Criniger mystical is, Wall. 

34. Artamus leucogaster, Val. 

35. Myiagra galeata, G. R. Gr. 

36. Mouarcha loricata, Wall. 

37. Rhipidura tricolor, Vieit. Moluccas. New Guinea. 

38. buruensis, Wed. 
39. 

40. Pachycephala clio, Wall. 

41. lineolata. Wall. 

42. rufescens. Wall. 

43. Dicrurus amboinensis, G. B. Gr. Amboina. Ceram. 



410 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

44. Edoliisoma marginatum, Wall. 

45. Philemon moluccensis, Gm. 
4G. Dicasum erythrothorax, Less. 

47. Zosterops chloris, Bp. 

48. Mtzomela Wakoloexsis, B. 0. Forbes. P. Z. S. 1883, p. 11G. (Fig. Gould, 
B. New Guinea, part 18.) 

The full-dress bird is entirely scarlet, the bases of the feathers being 
black ; the wings, the tail, and the preocular spot are black ; the upper 
wing-coverts are black with a scarlet band on the outer webs nearly in 
the middle, but not extending to the extremity of the feather ; the inner 
margins of the remiges are white ; the irides are rich brown ; the edges of 
the lower maxilla yellow ; tongue yellow ; legs and feet yellowish green ; 
soles yellow. 

The young male is at first almost entirely greyish brown ; the throat is 
pale grey; but quite below the maxilla and under the eyes the orange-red 
colour indicates the coming scarlet ; the back is greyish-brown, but of a 
deeper colour in the uropygial region ; the wings and the tail are brown- 
ish grey ; the breast and under tail-coverts greenish fulvous ; the margins 
of the upper wing-coverts pale fawn colour with, in some lights, reflections 
of red ; the margins of the remiges are olive-grey ; the throat, the front 
of the head, the breast, and the uropygial region are the first 1o assume 
the scarlet colour of the adult ; the angle of the w r ing has a dirty-white 
spot, which, with the olive-grey margins of the remiges, are the last to 
change to black. 

49. Nectarinia proserpina, Wall. 

50. Cyrtostonius zenobia, Less. Amboina. Ceram. Kc. 

51. Calornis obscura, Bp. Moluccas. 

52. Munia moluoca, Moluccas. Timor-laut. 

53. Osmotrerou aromaticn, Gm. Amboina. Ceram. 

54. Myristicivora melanura, G. R. Gr. Moluccas. 

55. Carpopha°:a perspicillata, Temm. Batjian. Gilolo. Waigiou. 

56. Ptilopus rivolii, Prev. 

57. viridis, Amboina. Ceram. Goram. 

58. Macropygia amboinensis. 

59. Chalcophaps indica. 

GO. Megapodius forsteni, Temm. 

01. wallacii. G. 11. Gr. 

02. Glareola grnllaria, Temm. Australia. 

03. Charadrius fulvus, Gm. 

G4. magnirostds, Lath. Celebes. New Guinea. Timor-laut. 

Go. Numenius uropygialis, Gould. 

06. Strepsilas interpret, Linn. 

07. Herodias egretta, Gmeh 

08. Butorides javanica, Horsf. 
G9. Bubulcus coromandus, Lodd. 

70. Ardetta iiavicollis, Lath. 

71. Nycdcorax caledonicus, Gmel. Australia to the Keeling Islands, in the 

Indian Ocean. 

72. Porpbyrio melanoptcrns, Temm. 

73. Eiyfchra leucomelamn, S. Mull. 

74. Gallinula frontata, Wall. 
75 Ortygomctivi cincrea. 

76. Hypotsenidia philippetisis, Linn. 

77. Dendrocygna guttulata, Temm. Coram. Celebes. 

78. Tadorna radja, Less. Moluccas, New Guinea. Tiruor-laut. 

79. Podiceps tricolor, G. Ji. Gr. Moluccas. 

80. Phalocracorax melsmoleucus, Yieil. 

81. Sterna melanaucbcn, Temm. 



IN BURU. 



4J1 



II. — Description of a New Species o/Tknahis. 

Tenaris buruensis, Mihi, sp. nov. 

Allied to T. catops ; differs in having the fore-wings of a less oval form 
and more broadly marked with brown at the apex, the hind-wings not 
suffused with oohreous at the base, and the ocellus much larger, with a 
well-defined pupil, as in T. diana, Butl. ; on the underside it differs in 
having the apical brown band of the fore-wings broader, and the ocelli on 
the hind-wings much larger and more broadly bordered with brown ; the 
ground colour of both wings is of a sordid, instead of pure white as in 
catops. Buru, 16 Nov., 1882, No. 2379. 



III. Some Burucse Words. 



alive 


deneve 


hot 


hinduin 


banana 


fuat 


hungry 


lappa 


boat 


waga 


head 


ulun 


bird 


ma nut 


liair 


ulun-fulun 


butterfly 


laliin 


leaf 


karumun 


come 


komahi 


man 


gaba-mana 


deep 


dowd 


night 


iletok 


deaf 


tlaprcngcmoh 


rattan 


uah 


dead 


damata 


river 


wai 


Deity 


Alla-stalla 


road 


tuhun 


eat 


makah 


stone 


vatu 


ear 


anting-atiting 


star 


gai 


evening 


modan 


slowly 


mara-mara 


tire 


bana 


speak 


sarah 


finger 


fahan wangan 


taboo 


ktiing 


fiower 


sawin 


tree 


kaun 


father 


n am a 


tongue 


maun 


far 


breman 


worn a u 


iina 


fish 


ikan 


wind 


anin 


foot 


kadan 


wood 


kau 


fruit 


fuan 


north 


Giwa rote 


great 


bagu 


south 


„ lawe 


give 


huke 


east 


Hangat kcliii 


good 


gossa 


west 


„ sebo 


hand 


fahan 


sun 


Hangat 


hasto 


naik-naik 


moon 


Fulan 


hold 


pesse 







PART VI. 



IN TIMOR. 



CHAPTER I. 

SOJOURN AT FATUNABA. 

Arrival at Dilly — Dreadful effects of fever — Search for a site for a house — 
The town of Dilly an ethnographical studio — Fatunaba — Our residence — 
The enchanting view thence — Interesting birds and plants — Difficulty 
with servants — Preparations for departure into the interior— Dialects. 

Sailing on the 15th of December from Amboina, Ave spent a 
couple of days in our favourite strolling-ground of Banda, and • 
sighted Timor early on the 19th, anchoring at noon in the 
harbour of Dilly, where we were heartily welcomed by our 
old friends the Governor, Major da Franca, and his family. 
We were above measure saddened to see their terribly 
emaciated countenances, which proclaimed more forcibly than 
words, the pestiferous nature of the climate. One of their 
number — the youngest — already slept under the shade of the 
Santa Cruz ; in all of them the notorious Dilly fever had 
killed down the cheerful vivacity, buoyancy of spirit and 
bright eye with which they had stepped ashore in the month 
of May. With the utmost kindness commodious apartments 
were offered us in the Palace, but it was perfectly evident 
that if I wished to accomplish any successful work in Timor, 
it could not be from Dilly as a centre, constantly exposed to 
the pestilence that nightly rises from the marshes surrounding 
the town. 

On proposing to make our residence somewhere on the hills, 
the Governor suggested to me the neighbourhood of the 
convent of Lahani, situated a few miles behind the town in a 
picturesque valley. Though more salubrious than any part of 
the town itself, the locality was still too much within the 
fever zone to tempt us to court a renewed attack of the 
malaria, whose dire effects we had sufficiently experience! in 
Timor-laut. 



416 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Early on the following morning, therefore, on horses kindly 
provided by the Government Secretary, Mr. Bento da Franca, 
and accompanied by Senhor Albino— one of the most genial 
spirits and most influential officials in Dilly, who in his own 
person was Master of the Port, Director of Public Works, and. 
Colonel of the native troops — we rode up the hills in quest of a 
location. A damp mist hung about the town as we started, 
but when we had ridden a few miles southward and ascended 
some 300 feet, the sun rose and displayed before us a land- 
scape whose great beauty I was utterly unprepared for, dis- 
heartened somewhat as I was by the hot sandy town and the 
depressing effect of the fever-stricken condition of the 
Europeans. Before we had reached 500 feet above the sea, I 
felt as if in a new atmosphere, so fresh and exhilirating was 
the air. Now winding round the flanks of deep glens, the 
watercourses dug out by the rain (for there was neither path 
nor road otherwise), now ascending slopes so steep as to make 
it impossible to sit on horseback without clutching grimly 
to the mane, now by the edge of sheer precipices, the path 
brought us, at 1700 feet, to a coffee-garden whose shrubs 
growing under deep shade, exhibited the richest display of 
fragrant blossom that I have ever seen. Close by on a pro- 
jecting shoulder, over which the summit of the mountain rose 
1000 feet higher, was a grassy plateau of a few yards in width 
commanding a view of unexampled beauty, and convenient to 
a quiet nook, where under the shade of a grove of Kanary 
trees a sparkling stream fell with a noisy purl over a rocky 
projection into a shallow pool. A few feet in front of the 
plateau the ground dropped suddenly into the wooded sides of 
a precipitous valley, widening out as it descended, till its 
enclosing spurs broke off abruptly in the green seaward plain, 
beyond which the white spire of the church, the Governor's 
Palace, the grey dwellings of the natives, and the guard-ship 
lying m the bay, glinted through the palms. Due north full 
in our face, rose abruptly out of the sea the high blue peaks of 
Pulo Kambing, while half hidden by the arms of the valley 
down which our view extended, on the left the lofty eastern 
buttresses of Allor, and on the right the serrated ridges of 
Wetter, touched the sky, boundaries within which the blue 
sea lay calm as an inland lake. No second thoughts were 



IN TIMOR. 417 



necessary to decide that our dwelling should stand there, and I 

carried back with rne to A a sweet-scented rose plucked 

from a bush growing near the spot as a hopeful token of the 
goodness of the site. During our descent a largish beetle 
banged itself against my hat, which I found to my delight 
to be a specimen of the rare rose-chaffer (Lomaptera timoren- 
sis), the only known specimen of which, if I mistake not, 
taken some twenty years before by Mr. Wallace in this very 
island, has remained unique ever since. On my arrival at the 
Palace, breakfast was proceeding, and I placed my prize under 
a glass shade in the room I occupied till my return from the 
table. Alas, during my absence a servant had cleared away 
the noxious bicJw, and I never afterwards saw another speci- 
men ! 

While arrangements, in response to the kind mandate of 
the Secretary to the native Eajah of Motael in whose territory 
the Fatunaba hills lay, were being made for the erection of a 
bamboo hut for me, we spent some very interesting days in 
Dilly. The town, though vastly improved since Mr. Wallace's 
visit, was still disappointing in many respects, and its Hibiscus- 
lined streets looked poor and uninviting. The lack of money 
to carry out efficiently the necessary municipal arrangements 
was painfully evident. No more enlightened or energetic 
regime could be desired than that under the officers at the 
head of affairs during our sojourn in Dilly, through whom — 
and I use no mere terms of compliment — had the necessary 
resources been at their disposal, Portuguese Timor might have 
caught the tide of prosperity she has long waited for. 

In going into the various offices and shops I was struck to 
find all business conducted, not, as in the Dutch possessions, 
in the lingua franca of the Archipelago, Malay, but in Portu- 
guese. It has been a feature of all the countries occupied for 
any length of time by the Portuguese that they have so 
indelibly impressed their own speech on the rude tribes they 
have conquered, that its words have remained a part of their 
language centuries after their rule has passed away. On the 
other hand, in the Netherlands colonies comparatively few 
Dutch words have been thus kindly naturalised. In the 
different quarters of the town native police posted in little 
encampments are always on guard, and during the still nights 



418 A- NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

it was curious to hear from Timorese throats the Alerto sta ! at 
the stroke of every hour. Besides the official staff very few 
Europeans live in Dilly ; the entire trade of the island being 
conducted by Arabs and (chiefly) by Chinamen. 

The streets of Dilly itself offer to the traveller a fine studio 
for ethnological investigation, for a curious mixture of nationa- 
lities other than European rub shoulders with each other in 
the town's narrow limits. At a single glance one sees that this 
crowd has few elements in common with that seen at Cupang, 
in the west. Tall, erect indigenes mingle with Negroes from 
the Portuguese possessions of Mozambique and the coasts of 
Africa, most of them here in the capacity of soldiers or con- 
demned criminals ; tall, lithe East Indians from Goa and its 
neighbourhood ; Chinese and Bugis of Macassar, with Arabs 
and Malays and natives from Allor, Savu, Boti, and Elores ; 
besides a crowd in whose veins the degree of comminglement 
of blood of all these races would defy the acutest computation. 
It was interesting to study the character of each in their 
unconscious ways one among each other. The Hindu, with 
a stately bearing, carried himself with a natural yet not 
offensive, air of superiority ; the non-dominating, provident, 
industrious, unobtrusive Mongolian wended his way, obtain- 
ing rather than asserting the next place, and was looked on 
with respect and good-neighbourly consideration ; the sturdy 
Africano rollicked about, noisy (generally drunk), careless, 
improvident, hated and feared by the indigenes, who frater- 
nising with none of the interlopers in their land, and keeping 
themselves quite to themselves, sat about in small companies 
under the trees or on the shore, or moved about in their erect, 
haughty, somewhat sullen and suspicious way, but not at 
all shunning the town like the West-Timor people. The 
Arab led his secluded life among his own race, energetic, 
taking many hard rebuffs Avith few words, while the Malays, 
semi-Malays and trading peoples fraternised pretty freely 
with each other on the shore and over the sides of their 
praus. 

The shop of Ah Ting, Major of the Chinese, was my 
favourite study-room while in Dilly, for there during the 
whole day came and went an endless succession of these 
nationalities for the purpose of barter or simply to lounge. 



IN TIMOR. 419 



The most marked characteristic of the Timorese is their in- 
dependence and self-assurance. With the utmost sang froid 
they would occupy all the chairs reserved for the use of 
Europeans, without for a moment, even on the entrance of an 
official of the Government, thinking of offering to give place, 
although on being asked they would remove with perfect good 
will, as if it had been a simple omission on their part not to 
have done so before. It is innate in him to feel that he is as 
good as any one else. Towards their own rajahs, however, 
they show much deference and respect, if not servility. One 
regrets the difficulty that exists in portraying in written words 
the life and vigour of these scenes. 

It was interesting to observe the wide contrast between 
the character of the Mongolian and that of the Timorese. 
The former with extreme patience and perfect good humour, 
over and over again taking down, exhibiting, putting up, 
discussing the price of the same piece of goods with the 
same individual, who, regardless of time, with him the most 
inexhaustible element in nature, would break off without a 
word, to examine a score of different things that might 
chance to catch his eye, or to join in some discussion carried 
on by his friends away in the street perhaps, by-and-bye 
to return to only to break off again from his bargaining, 
which cannot possibly be concluded till one after another of 
his companions has in whispered consultation given his idea 
of the transaction under consideration. When at last he has 
made up his mind to purchase or exchange his produce for, 
say, cloth of so many arm-stretches, if he is not of more than 
ordinary stature, he brings the very tallest man of his ac- 
quaintance to be his standard of measurement, who considers 
it a duty to his friend to adopt every possible device to 
expand his chest and arms. Placing the end of the web at 
the tip of the longest finger of his left hand, and making a 
gigantic inhalation, he runs his right arm out to the fullest 
extremity of his finger-tips, invariably succeeding in getting 
an inch or two more than he ought as he picks up the mark, 
from which he will on no account, even though his eyes be 
never taken off the spot, remove his finger till the cloth has 
been cut. Should by chance he move his finger the slightest 
degree, the whole measurement must be done over again, and 



420 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



even after the portion lie has purchased has been severed it 
must be measured several times over both by himself and his 
friends. The suspicious Timorese has wasted his (to him) 
valueless time, and has satisfied for the moment his fancy ; 
the Mongolian has a profit both on the produce he barters for, 
as well as on the commodity he disposes of, and by degrees 
amasses riches which the other can never attain to. 

On Christmas Day, 1882, with two natives of Goa as 
servants, the only men who could be persuaded to venture 
among the hills with me, I removed to Fatunaba to super- 
intend the erection of my bungalow, making my temporary 
quarters in a native shed in the coffee-gardens. 

As the royal salute of twenty-one guns boomed from the 
fort below me on New Year's Day, I was reminded that I ought 
to be having a holiday ; but had I left the men, even for a few 
hours, not one of them would have been found on my return, 
and days would have been required to hunt them up. On the 
3rd, A. joined me, and by the 6th the house was completed 
— though the grass roof did not look at all rain-proof — rather 
to the astonishment of the Timorese, who perhaps had never 
done so continuous a piece of work in their lives before. 
When the work was quite finished they demanded a pig to 
celebrate the event, in accordance with custom ; but as I had 
neither flocks nor herds they had to forage in the neighbour- 
hood, whence one of them returned shovtly with a nice fat 
specimen on the point of his spear, which, despite our most 
urgent protestations and threats, they cut up and divided in 
their own savage way on our new and deliciously clean 
verandah. By a bribe of kanipa (gin) all round we were 
relieved of the pleasure of seeing them cook and devour it. 

By next day, all our baggage and the implements of our 
trade and profession having been dragged up the cliff-like face 
of these " Tiring-rocks," as " Fatunaba " signifies, our house 
was set in order. Notwithstanding its want of elegance, and 
an ominous lean that it had to one side, our pile dwelling 
with its three rooms opening in a line on to the verandah, 
was very comfortable and very convenient. An extra apart- 
ment was fitted up to serve for a bath-room in bad weather, 
when the delicious natural shower-bath in the stream below 
our door couldn't be used. 



IN TIMOR. 421 



Wo were now ready for work ; but before beginning in 
earnest, we decided to take one undisturbed day of rest. It 
was a delightful holiday of inactivity. We were both 
enchanted with the outlook from our verandah, whence a 
single turn of the eyes commanded a wide and varied scene. 
It would be as useless to attempt as impossible to describe 
the beauty and our intense enjoyment, of the hourly effects 
from dawn to twilight, the myriad combinations of the sun- 
light on the near hills, on the surface of the sea, and on the 
island peaks of Allor, Kambing, Wetter, whose ridges and 
crests rising at varying distances caught the sunlight at 
every angle and in every degree of intensity. We felt that 
it was well worth not a few privations to live day after day in 
the face of a scene of such surpassing loveliness. 

My Goa men were both able to shoot, but as neither of them 
could skin at all well, my ornithological collections got on 
very slowly, for I myself gave the most of my time to the 
gathering of plants, which had not been at all carefully collected 
in Timor, while of the ornithology of the island, Mr. Wallace 
had already given us the chief features. Though no new 
birds were shot, those obtained were of great interest to us, 
especially the kakuak (Philemon timorensis), whose curious 
bawling cry in the gum-trees was invariably the first to 
awaken the silence of the dawn and the last to break off at 
night, and which had the exact habits of its relative which I 
discovered at Larat (P. timorlaoensis). As there, so here also, 
a species of Oriole, mimicking it in colour and in form so 
closely as to be almost indistinguishable when both birds are 
in the hand, was constantly seen feeding in the same tree with 
it. That in each of these different islands of the Austro- 
Malayan region an Oriole should seek protection under the 
regis of the habits and strength of this one genus of birds 
and of no other equally powerful or fleet group, and that in 
the islands of the neighbouring region, where true Orioles 
abound, it has not been found to occur, is one of the most 
curious and remarkable facts in the whole of Natural History. 
Neopnttacus euteles, a gorgeous little green-and-scarlet parrot, 
and the fine white cockatoo (Cacatua ml ph urea)— the males 
with black, and the females with red eyes-abounded round 
our dwelling, and gave us daily great pleasure by their 



422 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



liveliness and by the snowiness of their plumage. One very 
bold visitor we could not bring ourselves to destroy even to 
add to our collection, the lovely scarlet Myzomela vuhierata, 
which, when we were quiet, often hopped down even on the 
rail of our verandah from its favourite perch on the top of 
a gum-tree close by. A Musssenda frondosa bush, and the tall 
grass-stems on the other side of the path from our hut were 
constantly resorted to by several species of Finch, the pigmy 
Amadina insularis, the Munia -pallida, and the Estrelda 
flavidiventris. 

My own hunting grounds were the slopes above our hut, 
where the vegetation was very different from that which I had 
hitherto been accustomed to in the richly-clad western islands 
or in the humid Moluccas. I can scarcely say that we had 
any true forest, for the trees rarely entwined their crowns over- 
head, and the ground was covered with sparse grass sufficient 
to give it a park-like look. The precipitous ravines afforded 
the only really dense vegetation that existed where out I laid 
the foundation of a promising herbarium. My means of dry- 
ing the specimens, however, were very limited, as I could not 
manage at that time to requisition more labour to erect a 
drying-house ; and unless in these regions plants are dried 
by fire heat, they become mouldy in a very short time even 
with the most careful attention, and are then a terrible heart- 
break to the collector. I was specially gratified in gathering 
on the bare hot clayey face of the mountain a lovely little 
sun-dew (Drosera lunata) growing luxuriantly in extensive 
patches. Accustomed to gather its kin at home in boggy 
heaths, I was surprised to find it flourishing in so dry an 
exposure ; but on digging it up I found it held a store of 
moisture against hard times in the tuberous roots with which 
it was provided. This was a characteristic of not a few of the 
herbaceous plants growing on these arid slopes. Another 
plant, also of a home-family, one of the Vacciniacese afforded 
us a rare pleasure, like a breath from home every time we 
ascended to 2000 feet. This shrub, of an undescribed species 
I am delighted to find, grew in the ravines in the form of a 
tall bush, and has an open tross of rich scarlet waxy bells. Its 
low habitat in so hot a region is somewhat surprising ; but 
the amount of " grey beard " lichen with which, like the rest 



IN TIMOR. 423 



of the vegetation about it, it was loaded, told how cool and 
moist an atmosphere it was living in. 

Among the tall grass fields one of the commonest orchids 
was the white sweet-scented Habenaria susannse, remarkable 
for the great length of its nectaries. Diurnal lepidoptera were 
noticeably very few at Fatunaba ; but at night more moths 
(belonging only to a few species) than at any other station 
where I had lived, crowded to my lamp. Among them the 
most abundant were two moderate-sized Noctuse, a new species 
of Ophiodes and Remigia virbia, and a largish species oi 
Humming-bird moth (Protoparce orientalis). I made it a 
point daily to watch the fertilisation of these Habenarias. 
They were invariably cross-fertilised during the night by a 
moth which, as it always left a few of its hairs on the stigma, 
I feel certain is the same as one and perhaps both of the 
Noctuse just mentioned, but the tongue of both species is 
far too short ever to reach more than half-way down towards 
the minute drop of sweetness concealed at the very tip 
of the nectary. The large pollinia in many cases had been 
carried only as far as one of the petals or to a neighbouring 
leaf, as if the moth, finding the burden too great for it, had 
rested there, and succeeded in freeing itself of them. 

Collecting was carried on till the end of February with all 
the vigour possible, my herbarium especially rapidly increasing 
in size ; but I had fully expected to have been by then far in 
the interior. The weather, however, had been very disastrous 
for us, and we had had much difficulty with our servants. It 
was a weary tramp up to Fatunaba from Dilly, and as all our 
provisions had to be carried by our own men, they very soon 
tired of the exertion that this entailed, and of living so far 
from the Tcanipa stores of the town. One of the Goa men 
was an inveterate toper, and had very soon to be discharged. 
His place was taken by a younger brother, who proved a good 
and willing servant ; but he could not stand the cold nights of 
the mountains, so when he left in ill-health, followed soon 
after by his brother dismissed for larceny, their place was 
filled by an Allor youth, who knew a little Malay. Goma 
was a servant faithful as a dog, strong and willing to work, 
but having not the slightest idea of European ways, which he 
had never seen, he afforded us much amusement, if not much 



424 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



profit, by his willing attempts to serve us. As he was only- 
delaying in Dilly, for a favourable wind to go home by, we 
soon lost him, and for a whole fortnight — days of privation 
anything but slight — we had to rely on ourselves for the 
performance of all our domestic duties, till our kind helper, 
Senhor Albino, sent us a Timorese, the son of a chief in one of 
the kingdoms of the interior, who had been for some time a 
prisoner in Dilly, but whose freedom Avas restored to him on 
the sole condition of his serving us faithfully as long as we 
wanted him. 

The results of the haste with which our thatched roof was 
finished off soon became evident enough. At times not a single 
spot in the hut — except where our bed, roofed over with a 
waterproof sheet, stood — was dry. Everything of value, there- 
fore, that we possessed, food, books, plants, gunpowder, clothes, 
had to be stored on or under this piece of furniture, so that we 
derived little rest or comfort from it. The repeated gales bent 
the hut itself so far that it would have been carried down the 
valley but for a couple of gum-trees which I had to fell and 
prop it up with. Our food supply was wretchedly poor and 
very scanty, often necessitating a purchasing expedition to 
Dilly to replenish our stores — visits which in our solitary life 
were red-letter days from the few hours of Euiopsan inter- 
course with our kind friends at the palace which they brought 
us, for which we invariably paid dearly, however, in fever 
attacks — in A.'s case of a very violent kind — a few days after 
our return. Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, we had no 
lack of enjoyment of a most serene description in this rough 
and ricketty abode — if in nothing else, certainly in the inex- 
pressibly delightful scene ever before us under the morning 
and evening sun, and in the bright moonlight nights. 

With the natives we had a good deal of intercourse, as they 
came often past our hut on their way to Dilly wth their 
produce — chiefly Indian corn and European potatoes. Their 
character did not gain favourably on us. If their demands for 
Jcanipa were not complied with, they took themselves off in a 
very offensive and threatening way, muttering curses as they 
went. If not watched closely, they were apt to think that 
various useful or attractive objects of ours were belongings of 
theirs. Among them some had frizzy, some had straight hair, 



IN TIMOR. 425 



some tall, others again short and stumpy — while in other 
characteristics they varied so much that it is impossible to 
believe them to belong to a pure race. 

The weather by the middle of March having showed signs of 
clearing, the Governor with great kindness gave orders for an 
escort to be ready to accompany me into the interior as soon as 
travelling could be considered safe. 

March 29th. — To-morrow, at last, I shall be able to start, my 
transport ponies having arrived this evening. To my dismay, 
however, only half as many as are necessary for my baggage. 
On inquiring of the Hindu officer in charge, I find that it 
would require a week to collect the extra number I wish. 
The only thing now possible is taking only a portion of the 
botanical drying-paper which is bulky and heavy, to advance 
at once to Bibicucu and send back for the rest. The saddle 
for the pony I am to ride has been forgotten also. The 
escort consists of the Hindu officer, who is to act as my guide, 
interpreter and adviser, and is charged with full authority 
over the rajahs in whose kingdoms I may stay, a Hindu 
corporal, and an official of the Eajah of Motael's kingdom 
through which we first pass, who is to be relieved by a like 
officer from each kingdom in which I may sojourn. He 
must attend from his own Eajah's headquarters to the head- 
quarters of the next Eajah, and is responsible for every item, 
not of my baggage only, but of my person also, till relieved by 
his fellow in the neighbouring kingdom. My own authority 
is a friendly and most plenary document addressed to all the 
Eajahs that I may meet in the interior. 

The whole of East Timor is apportioned out under certain 
chiefs called Leoreis, each of whom is independent and abso- 
lute in his own kingdom. At present there are forty-seven of 
these ; but many of them possess far greater influence than, 
and exercise a sort of vassalage over, the others. Each Reno, 
or kingdom, is divided into districts each of which is called a 
SuJcu, ruled over by a Bato, who receives his orders from 
the Leorei by a special officer appointed for that purpose. 
The Dato has under him two other officials, a Cabo and a 
Tenente* who assist him in the regulation of the Snkn. 

Nearly every kingdom has its own dialect. Crawford says 
* These terms are probably adopted from the Portuguesi 



426 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



that in Timor there are forty different languages. I am not 
in a position to say whether they are dialects or languages ; 
but I observed that in some districts the people did not 
understand the speech of their neighbours. 

I feel quite anxious at leaving A. here alone. Female 
servants are impossible to be found in Dilly; but the old 
woman who looks after the coffee-gardens near us, has agreed 
to sleep in the hut within her call, and to assist her in her 
few domestic duties. She herself will not hear of any one 
else, and scouts the idea of danger from the natives, and is 
quite brave over it. Our friends at the palace desire her to 
make her home with them, but the fever risks of Dilly are too 
great. I do not like the neighbours over much, and am far 
from comfortable in the idea of leaving her so unprotected. 



IN TIMOR. 427 



CHAPTER II. 

ON THE EOAD TO BIBICUCU. 

Start for the interior — Vegetation on the way — Roads — Camp on Erlura — 
Mt. Tehula — Kelehoko and its flora — Pass a night under the eaves of a 
native dwelling — Huts in trees — Bed of the River Komai — Pass a night 
on Ligidoik Mountain — Character of country — Valley of the Waimatang 
Kaimauk — Singular scene — -Unburied relatives — Burial rites — Grave- 
sticks — Rites attending a king's death — Swangies — Lose our way — - 
Flora on Turskain mountain — Rajah of Turskain's — Botanical excur- 
sions — The rites of the sacred Lull and the choosing of warriors — The 
Rajah. 

After many hours spent in arranging the burdens of the 
different ponies and men, I despatched the cavalcade at eleven 
o'clock (March 30th). The officer expressed the greatest asto- 
nishment at all absence of timidity on A.'s part on being 
left alone ; but, on being reminded that she was an " English 
Senhora," he appeared satisfied that the fact was sufficient to 
explain the phenomenon. He encouraged her with assurances 
that there was nothing to fear for my safety, swearing to her on 
the cross-hilt of his sword that if anything befell me it would 
be over his body, and solemnly charged also the little old 
woman who was to be her factotum, that if she failed in her duty 
she might expect, on my return, all the calamities that her 
superstition could picture to her. Having constructed for 
myself a saddle and stirrups out of my. Ulster coat and a 
rope looped at both ends, and given A. a last assuring word, 
I followed the cavalcade, ascending the well-known path 
above our hut to 2500 feet, where, turning eastward along 
the summit of the ridge, we travelled parallel to the coast, on 
our way, in the first instance, to the Rajah of Turskain's. 

The vegetation was almost exclusively Melastomacese, with 
acacias, tamarinds, and gum-trees, while in the narrowest and 
most inaccessible gorges tall graceful tree-ferns abounded 
among thick shrubbery, whose components I could not 



428 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



identify, and in many places broad areas of Setaria and Pas- 
palum grass took the place of all other vegetation. 

No such thing as a road exists anywhere in Timor. All 
the paths follow the knife ridges of the hills, or skirt along 
the face of precipitous slopes, invariably in deep ditch-like 
trenches, out of which a stumble would fatally land either 
horse or man hundreds of feet below. The Timor horses are 
wonderfully sure-footed, and seem quite accustomed to these 
difficult ways. 

Having started late in the forenoon, it was found impossible 
to reach, before sunset, the hut where we had intended to 
camp. As we had no food with us for the men, we were com- 
pelled to practise the highwayman's art on the numerous 
natives loaded with maize, whom we met going towards 
Dilly. From each of them, the rajah's officer — an official of 
their own king — demanded a few heads, which after some 
display of authority, were generally given up. After several 
acts of this kind, I was surprised to see that those meeting 
us even an hour later, on catching sight of us a long distance 
off, darted aside down the first declivity out of our way, and, 
laden though they were, generally managed to escape. The 
intelligence of our coming had been conveyed to them from 
the nearest hill-top the first mulcted people had reached. 
It is astonishing with what ease and accuracy the Timorese 
can convey intelligence from one mountain crest to another. 
Nearly every man carries in his wallet (which he never 
travels without) a short wooden pipe, by whose curious notes 
he can convey signal sounds to a long distance ; but by the 
unaided voice they are able, in a series of what seem only 
demoniacal howls, to hold long dialogues from peak to peak 
across wide valleys. It was in this way doubtless that our 
men were nearly done out of their supper, which according to 
the laws of their kingdom the officer was within his right in 
demanding. 

Eeaching about five o'clock a little plateau, known as 
Erlura, at 3500 feet above the sea, where we found a well and 
several tall gum-trees with their stems hollowed out by fire, 
we camped for the night. After seeing the baggage stowed 
inside the trees, I occupied the time till dark in assiduously 
collecting the herbaceous plants which dotted the ground. The 



IN TIMOR. 



429 



district being notorious for robbers, we picketed the horses 
at dark within a quadrangle of fires — not an unnecessary pre- 
caution ; for in the middle of the night we heard very sus- 
picious low whistle-calls several times repeated, which gave 




SIGNALLING PIPE. 

vigour to the " Alerto ! " of our guard. The Timorese are very 
clever horsestealers, I understand, and, by abducting them 
off from the very side of their owners, the astuter thieves 
among them have obtained the reputation of being Swangies, 
who have the power of making their bodies invisible. 
29 



430 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Next morning- at sunrise, after I had taken a round of 
bearings, we started in a south-easterly direction, continually 
climbing as on the previous day, along hog's-back ridges and 
round precipitous gorges. On the bare red clay of Mount 
Tehula, at 4200 feet, I gathered, with great delight, a new 
species of Epaeridaceas a heath-like plant, which formed inter- 
rupted shrubberies all over its summit. From Tehula by a 
shallow saddle, we reached Kelehoko, 4600 feet, where un- 
horsing to rest for an hour, I made a most interesting collec- 
tion of plants, many of them belonging to European families 
and genera, violets (V. patrinii), geraniums, bright azure 
Campamdacete on the bare red soil, oxalis, and a new species 
of Orchids, Diuris fryana of Ridley ; and near it, among the 
grass, a new bright species of the Scropludariaceie, belonging 
to the genus Buchnera. Hence winding down the valley of 
the Komai, on foot, as the path was very steep and unsafe, we 
reached about half-way the house-cluster of a native known 
to my guide, who had been over all this country during- 
various revolts. 

As it was beginning to rain, we decided to camp here for 
the night, and asked to occupy a part of the man's house. 
To this he replied that his dwelling was at our disposal, but 
for our own sakes he had rather we did not go inside, as a 
child of his had been buried only the day before, and he was 
ashamed of the smell left by the dead body ; but we might, if 
we liked, occupy the platform below the eaves. We accord- 
ingly spent the night in this rather cramped situation, com- 
pletely protected from rain, and in the morning discovered 
that the whole story of the child's death was a myth ; but I 
have no doubt that we were more comfortable outside, if the 
wreaths of smoke that oozed through the wicker-work sides of 
the house gave us any idea of the purity of the atmosphere 
within. 

The Timorese, differing from the peoples of the Indo- 
Malayan region or of the Tenimber Islands, do not live in 
villages, but more like the Buruese, in a cluster of family 
residences, or in isolated habitations often far distant from 
any other dwelling. This Fatete homestead, a single family 
abode of one or two houses, was placed in the centre of an 
enclosure strongly fenced in by high palings made of longi- 



IN TIMOR. 431 



tudinal planks and logs of trees intertwined with growing 
bamboos and thorny shrubs. The gateway was closed by a 
door of* a broad solid slab of wood, swung on its lintels by the 
two pivots left projecting at the upper and lower corners, 
and secured by a bar of a slender tree. Just inside the gate 
stood a little shed, occupied every night by a sentinel on 
guard, and where I observed a " dummy " head on the top of 
a pole as a warning to thieves and robbers of the reception 
that awaited them. Within the enclosure were stockaded 
wallowing-pools for the owner's buffaloes, and stalls for his 
goats and ponies in times of alarm, while the ubiquitous pig, 
his most treasured possession, had its usual quarters beneath 
the dwelling. The houses were of bamboo, the walls — in 
which there were no windows — being of several layers of 
wicker-work matting, raised several feet off the ground on 
strong pillars. The floor projected some feet beyond the walls 
all round, forming the platform under the eaves, on which we 
camped. Their dwellings are not divided into apartments, 
but there are stall-like divisions, which can be closed by 
curtains, and are used for sleeping in. A spot is always railed 
off for the sacred (lull) spear, knife and gun, before which 
the head of the house makes a propitiatory offering to speed 
his particular undertakings. Outside the enclosure, in the 
tops of the taller of the gum-trees, were curious miniature 
huts, which I at first thought, from the absence of any 
ladder, might be pigeon-houses ; but they turned out to be 
their granaries — reached by climbing the trees — and the 
depositories of the more valuable portion of their house- 
hold effects, such as plates, bowls of European make, and 
cloths. They are invariably placed in high trees whose 
trunk was divided into four divaricating arms, on which 
two diagonal planks can be fixed to support a firm floor. 
They are said to be little subject to the depredations of 
rats ; but they seemed most tempting objects to every prowl- 
ing thief. It may be, however, that they are protected by the 
sanctity of the taboo— or, in their own language, are Mi. 

Next day, descending by the usual ditch-like paths and 
zig-zagging down land-slipped gorges we reached, at 3000 
feet above the sea, the bed of the river Komai, a wide channel 
several hundred yards in breadth, paved with soft blu« lack 



432 .4 NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



pebbles and sand, through which instead of one large rivei 
numerous small independent streamlets, some of them pure 
and sparkling, but most of them of a blue inky hue, were 
meandering their course. A few of these slaty stones were 
of red or yellowish colour ; I myself observed no granite, 
but my boy brought me a porphyritic nodule. Our way lay 
down the river-bed, the only good road we had yet traversed, 
between banks, from 100 to 150 feet in height of perfectly 
horizontal stratified pebbles, laid down in the bed of .some 
former lake or estuary through which the river, by the slow 
elevation of the land is now cutting its way. Tall casuarinas, 
loaded with staghorn-ferns, grew at the bases of these pebbly 
cliffs and dotted the dry portions of the river-bed. 

When we had reached a point 2000 feet above the sea, we 
left the river, turning to the right up the long steep slope of 
the Ligidoik Mountain, on whose top at 3400 feet we unhorsed 
to lunch close to the barricaded dwelling of a sub-chief of the 
Motael kingdom in which we still were. Notwithstanding 
the threats of the official of their own kingdom in attendance 
on me, we could not succeed in purchasing anything of an 
eatable kind except some Indian corn for the men, and had to 
be content with the meagre provisions I had myself brought. 
Just as we were about to resume our march rain commenced to 
fall in torrents, compelling us to demand shelter, which was 
ungraciously conceded to us, as on the previous night below 
the eaves of a most wretched hovel. 

From our elevated position the whole country within the 
sweep of the eye was of a most singular conformation, being 
entirely composed of knife-edges, peaks, and precipitous slopes 
of deep valleys. It surprised me to observe that it was the 
most inaccessible peaks and isolated crags that were crowned 
by dwellings, hidden from sight generally among groves of 
trees. It was easy to see that I was travelling in a lawless 
land where every man's hand was against his neighbour, and 
where therefore every man was constantly and restlessly on the 
outlook. 

On the following morning (April 2), after I had taken a 
series of bearings to all the prominent peaks, we continued 
our journey south-eastward, descending 450 feet to the Vekele 
stream, only to wend our way up again 550 feet to the crest of 



IN TIMOR. 4:j3 



Lebetutu, over a bleak, stony, almost grassless country. No 
sooner bad we reached the crest than we began to descend 
once more — but less abruptly — into the wide valley of the 
Wai-Matang-Kaimauk. The change to a new set of muscles 
was at first very agreeable, but ere long I found myself wish- 
ing that we were going up, the very reverse of what I was 
praying for just before we came over the ridge above us. 
There was no improvement in the road, which as hitherto 
wound along in an interminable drain, barely wide enough 
for single file, worn in some places so deep and narrow 
as to admit only with difficulty our baggage-laden ponies, 
which, startled by the grating of their burdens on the sides of 
the defile, were constantly bolting — crashing along headlong, 
till their panniers were left behind, or themselves jammed 
fast utterly blocking the way, as the towering mass of the 
mountain on the one hand, and the precipitous cliffs on the 
other, or precipitous cliffs on both hands, prevented all passage 
forwards or backwards. It seems to me impossible for a proper 
road ever to be made across the island, for, from the moun- 
tainous character of the country and the unstable nature of 
the soil, the best constructed way must inevitably disappear 
each rainy season. "The land of Timor is always falling," is 
the natives' own account of the country. 

Looking down into this valley, the scenery was of a most 
singular and striking description. The river was itself the 
most prominent feature, like a livid blue-black band drawn 
athwart the landscape, clouding rather than enlivening it ; 
on the further side the mountains, sculptured into peaks and 
crags, rose so precipitously as to seem insurmountable, while 
their slopes were disfigured by perpendicular livid blue escarp- 
ments thrown down by landslips into the valley ; on our own 
side of the river several giant, wildly picturesque trihedral 
pillars of rock, all of them of nearly equal height, reared their 
crags above the level of the mountain slope for some 500 feet. 
Between two of these great pillars the homestead of the Dato 
of the Suku of Sauo, was most romantically and enticingly 
situated; and as it was already late in the afternoon, I decided 
to claim his hospitality for the night. 

Before reaching his homestead I noted at a scented lemon 
shrub the first butterfly— a Papilio—I had seen since leaving 



434 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Fatnuaba. Indeed, life of all kinds had been exceedingly 
conspicious by its absence ; save a scarlet T richoglossus or a 
cockatoo flying across our path, and a few crows at Erlura, I 
had seen no birds, and the vegetation since crossing the 
Ligidoik river had been very poor indeed. A few casuarinas, 
acacias, gum-trees, and some rough-leaved Composite being 

the only vegetable forms. The 
slopes on the other side looked 
somewhat more tree-dotted, how- 
ever, but the bare red ground 
displayed itself over a large part 
of its area. A few hundred yards 
from the homestead gate we 
passed a granary -looking hut in 
the top of a high tree with a 
number of bundles dangling from 
its floor. On inquiring what they 
were, I was surprised to be told 
that they were dead bodies — 
folded at the thighs, and wrapped 
in mats — relatives of the Dato 
waiting to be buried ! 

Entering through a high-barred 
gateway, we found the homestead 
to consist of eight or ten well- 
built houses of a somewhat dif- 
ferent style of architecture from 
that prevalent near the coast. 
Surrounded by a high stone wall 
surmounted by a cactus hedge, 
and built on a rocky buttress jut- 
ting out over a precipitous gorge, 
it was unapproachable except on 
the one side by which we entered. When we had settled in the 
empty guarda to which we were at once conducted by the Dato 
himself, the first civility and token of friendship that passed 
between the chief and my Hindu guide, as representing me, 
was the exchange of siri, pinang, and chalk. Each prepared 
his quantum, and stuffed it into his mouth, but before adding 
to it the chalk, of which each had taken the proper quantity 




TKEE-HUTS WITH DEAD BODIES SUS 
TENDED BELOW. 



IN TIMOR. 435 



into the hollow of his hand, " Maman ? " (may I eat ? ), said 
my guide, with an obeisance, following the proper etiquette, 
to which the Dato replied, " Maman " (eat). This little 
ceremony had an instant effect in loosening the tongues of our 
hosts, who kept up an unbroken dialogue till long after dark. 

Just at sunset we were surprised by the intrusion of a man, 
who beat a long and vigorous tatoo on a drum suspended in the 
centre of the building, to give, as was explained to us, informa- 
tion to the neighbourhood that the remains of the father and 
of some other relatives of the Dato — an old white-haired man 
— which had been dangling some thirty years in the tree-top 
which we had just passed, were at last to be buried, and that 
every night till the feast was ready the drum would be beat at 
sunset. I had observed an unwonted activity of rice and 
Indian-corn stamping, and remarked the wealth of pigs and 
goats that we had to make our way through as we entered, all 
now explained as preparations against the day of burial. 

When a member of a family dies, at least three duties are 
imperative on the surviving relatives before the body can be 
buried. First, every blood relative without exception is bound 
to give, either in person or by proxy, a gift of greater or less 
magnitude to the deceased. On arriving where the dead body 
is, each donor places his gifts on or near the corpse, and 
within its hearing fires off as many shots of his gun as he can 
afford, the greater the number the greater is his respect, it is 
supposed, for the departed. The other essentials are a death 
and-burial feast. If the defunct have been a lowly person 
with few relatives, a small feast will suffice to satisfy the 
demands of custom. If, however, he have been of some rank, 
with many relatives and a wide acquaintance, these must be on 
a scale commensurate with his position ; and so serious are the 
demands that custom requires, that the death feast alone often 
reduces the family to abject poverty, necessitating the delay 
of the funeral for months, years, or even a whole century, till 
such time, in fact, as the relatives and descendants are able to 
provide the necessary costly feast. The corpse, which lias 
been lying where it died during these first tedious cere- 
monies" is °then folded at the hips, bundled up in a mat and 
suspended by a cord below the floor of the curious dovecot- 
like huts in the trees which I have spoken of, to wait inter- 



436 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



ment; or in some districts it is placed on a bier in a little 
but prepared for it near tbe dwelling of tbe nearest relative. 
If a son die before bis father's remains have been committed 
to the ground, the primary and imperative duty of burial de- 
volves on his heir with his other obligations. The knowledge 
of " who is who " among the various dangling remnants of 
humanity is handed down from each inheritor to each suc- 
ceeding' heir of the obligation ; when at last sufficient buffaloes, 
pigs, goats, Indian corn, rice, and kanipa for a feast in accord- 
ance with the rank of the deceased have been amassed, the 
body, in such condition as it happens to be, is laid, attired and 
ornamented in its best garments and finery, in a short wooden 
coffin dug out of a block of wood, along with the various gifts 
which the relatives had perhaps decades before bestowed on 
it, and the whole, wrapped in a " patola," or ornamented cere- 
cloth, is committed to the grave amid the firing of guns and 
the wailing of women. 

From the time the funeral company arrives, which is 
generally many days before that actually appointed for the 
interment, buffaloes and horses, sheep and pigs are ruthlessly 
butchered to satisfy the insatiable appetites of these savages, 
who devour it half-cooked, and whose drink throughout the 
whole period of the ceremonies is confined to the strongest 
and coarsest arrack. Under the influence of this stimulant 
the women starting up, and falling into a ring, each beating 
a round drum, commence to dance, going round and round in 
a circle, at first slowly, then by degrees faster and faster, till 
they become thoroughly excited. Shouting and bawling out 
unintelligible words or sentences, they constantly increase the 
pace of their prance and the din of their voices, till the men 
at last becoming excited also, dress themselves in their war 
feathers and accoutrements, and brandishing their swords, join 
in the drunken and demoniacal scene, which continues to 
increase in fury till the wearied-out frames of the performers 
sink through utter exhaustion, which it often requires, so mad 
is their frenzy, a whole circuit of the sun to produce. In such 
a scene the Timorese appear as pure savages. 

When these orgies at last come to a close, the skulls and 
cheekbones of the slain herds are strewn over the ground 
among the stones heaped upon it at the time of burial ; or in 



IN TIMOR. 



437 



the case of persons of rank or importance the jaw-bones and 
horns are inserted into holes one above the other in a tall 
pole, whose number indicates the eminence of him who sleeps 
below. Such a memento stood within this Sauo homestead 
enclosure to mark the resting-place of the Dato's grandfather. 
When a king dies the chief officers of the kingdom are 
summoned to pronounce that he is really dead. As soon as 




GRAVE STICK IN THE HOMESTEAD OF SAUO. 

this declaration has been made the whole family, who have 
till then preserved complete silence, break out into cries and 
lamentations. For seven days no work is permitted to be 
done within the limits of the kingdom, no betel or sin may be 
used, and the people must cut their hair in token of mourning. 
For weeks and even months the relatives of the defunct ruler 
continue to arrive, and as each one must view the co^ »e as it 



438 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



died, it Las become by then a mass of putrefaction emitting a 
pestilential odour, which to the Timorese gives no apparent 
discomfort. As during this period whoever arrives must be 
feasted, every buffalo, horse and pig that the family possess 
have often to be slaughtered, reducing them to absolute 
poverty. On the conclusion of these death ceremonies the 
family leave the house, but the body remains there either on a 
bier or deposited in a large coffin and guarded by the officials 
of the kingdom, till the relatives can afford to provide the 
burial feast. Till such time the king is supposed to be asleep 
and no successor with reigning powers can be appointed. 

Like the Australians, the Timorese cannot understand why 
any one should ever die unless he be killed ; so they attribute 
both sickness and natural death to the influence of some 
malevolent existence, which they believe eats up the spirit of 
the blighted person after death. As soon, therefore, as the sick 
man has died, the Sivangi (or person in whom the evil spirit 
had taken up its residence and who is considered to be in 
collusion with it), whom their fanaticism easily discovers, used 
with his whole family to be seized (till it was made a capital 
crime by the Portuguese so to do), bound hand and foot, and 
either impaled or buried alive, and their goods confiscated 
for the benefit of the accusers and the lord of the soil. 

Their food seems to consist chiefly of indian-corn roasted 
ever the fire by each individual when he feels hungry, and 
eaten grain by grain as it becomes ready. On high occasions, 
when a pig or a goat is killed, the indian-corn mixed with 
rice and Katjang (Phaseolus) beans, is stewed along with the 
flesh, and the whole mess flavoured with the most pungent 
capsicums. Sweet potatoes (and in some elevated districts 
European potatoes), Cucurbitaceous fruits and various herbs 
form also a large part of their diet. ] n times of scarcity a species 
of legume, called by them hutu (Dolichos Lallab), common 
over the whole island, is also used as food, but unless it is 
well cooked it is, if not poisonous, very deleterious. They 
cultivate few fruits except the banana; but the jack-fruit 
seems in some places abundant and is highly prized, espe- 
cially its seeds, which when boiled, taste not unlike potatoes 
and much resemble those of the seeding variety of the bread- 
fruit tree (Artooaiyus incisa). The true bread-fruit I did not 



IN TIMOB. 439 



myself observe, though it is said to grow in Timor in abun- 
dance. 

April 3. — From behind our rest-house, I got a good view of 
the river below us, where its tributary, the Tahaolat, descending 
a long steep gradient, and looking from my elevated station like 
a narrow line of black fluid winding through the centre of its 
wide, flat and stony channel, dashes down a noisy cataract into 
but does not commingle for a long way after its union with 
the paler water of the Wai Matang-Kaimauk, whose bed, 
judging from the dwarfed appearance of the tall casuarinas 
growing against the high shingle banks in the fork of their 
confluence, must be quite fifty feet lower. So broad is the 
channel of this river that even the conjoint flood — on the way 
to the sea at Mantutu — meanders like a narrow ribband 
through it. The grandeur of these streams, if ever their vast 
beds are filled from bank to bank with a roaring torrent, must 
be left to the imagination. Guided bv the Dato, down the 
steep and broken slopes to the river margin, 2000 feet above 
the sea, I had a full view of the giant trihedral blocks down 
to their bases in a side tributary of the Wai Matang- 
Ivaimauk, and estimated them at not less than 1000 feet in 
height. The river itself, which looked so small from above, 
was found to be wide, deep, and rapid, demanding our utmost 
caution in fording on account of the number of large boulders 
which were being constantly rolled down by it. I am told that 
in the rainy season, travellers have often to camp on the bank 
for weeks waiting for an opportunity to cross in safety ; and 
that many a time horses and men, who in their impatience 
attempt to force their way, are carried down and crushed by 
the rolling blocks. 

From the river it was a long weary climb of 1500 feet to the 
summit of the opposite ridge, over a rough shingly ground, from 
which the soil has been nearly all washed away, so that to 
raise his little crop of maize the native here has had to build 
up terraces of low walls in the more sheltered nooks to hold 
the precious hoard of earth he has laboriously collected behind 
them. On reaching the summit we were overtaken by a 
dense drizzling mist, in which, amid the innumerable ravinelets 
of the descent, each of which looked like the usual ditch -like 
track of a road, we lost our way. Stumbling up against a 



440 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



native of the district whom luckily we caught unawares before 
he could make off, we persuaded him with the offer of a 
gaudy kerchief to guide us to the Kajah of Turskain's. In his 
rear we slid and stumbled down on the slippery clay for 1000 
feet to the Maukuda, a noisy sparkling stream in a narrow 
ravine which finds its way to the south coast (showing that we 
had crossed the water-shed of the country), up which we 
clambered over boulders and through deep pools for nearly an 
hour. The sides of the ravine, however, were densely covered 
with vegetation, and bright with hedychium, balsams, and the 
French marigold (Tagetes patula) so common in our gardens 
at home, but which was here growing wild far from coast 
influence or the highways of the world, and was seen by me 
nowhere else along my route. It is a widespread plant, 
hailing from Mexico originally, but also found in Africa; but 
how did it reach the interior of Timor ? 

Turning to the right out of the stream our horses had to be 
urged up one of the steepest inclines we had yet encountered, 
in trenches as deep as their own height, and along more pre- 
cipitous and dangerous ravines than those we had passed. In 
compensation for these difficulties the scenery was charmingly 
picturesque, in the glimpses we got of it through the rolling 
mist-clouds, and above all, we had entered a more fertile 
grass-clad region though without much arboreal vegetation 
beyond acacias and casuarinas. Every foot of the way was 
dotted with bright herbs in full flower, witli violets, white- 
flowered geraniums like our Herb-Eobert in habit, Galium 
very like our common Bedstraw, pink Lahiatse resembling the 
Penny-royal of our English roadsides, Oxalis, and Polygonum, 
while among the grass and in rocky nooks grew small terres- 
trial orchids and the most lovely silver and other graceful 
ferns ; and where the soil was broken by land-slips, and in the 
ravines, flowering shrubs abounded, so that I mourned that I 
had not arms big enough to embrace specimens of all I might 
have gathered. Though we had been climbing up and clam- 
bering down — first down 500 feet then up 1700, down 1000 
only to rise again the same number of feet — since early 
morning till past five o'clock in the evening, I quite forgot the 
steepness of this last ascent (leading up to our destination the 
residence of the Eajah of Turskain), and my weariness of limb 



IN TIMOR. 441 



in the happiness of gathering these familiar forms of flowers, us 
well as the event of the day to which I had been looking for- 
ward, the seeing of the state and bearing of a native potentate. 

At last at an elevation of 4500 feet we found in a pretty 
circular grassy plateau in the hollow of the mountain tops the 
royal enclosure. The house of the Leorei, a small edifice 
standing alone, had little to distinguish it from the commonest 
Timorese dwelliog except perhaps the presence of an armed 
guard housed near it in a little shed, near which stood the 
" guarda," erected for the accommodation of high personages 
passing through the kingdom, and therefore assigned to us. 
This was a miserable edifice raised on poles but not floored except 
where a rough bamboo platform was erected for baggage and 
another for sleeping on. It could not have been less comfort- 
able or much more filthy; dogs and pigs had evidently made 
it their lair, and during our stay they strayed through it at 
all hours of the day and night while the rain penetrated the 
roof everywhere, and rushed through below the house as a 
considerable stream. 

Soon after our arrival I sent my corporal to inform the 
Rajah of my presence in his " guarda," " on the service of the 
Government," and to request him to come to me and hear 
the reason of my visit to his kingdom. He sent back his 
salutation, with the reply that as it was late he would visit me 
on the morrow and arrange for the necessary supplies of our 
table and for horses for our further progress; meantime, he 
begged to send us six eggs and two wax tapers, hoping we 
should make an endeavour to do with these till the morning, 
and to say that he had ordered a Cabo of the Reno to take over 
at once and be responsible for the safety of our baggage that 
the Rajah of Motael's men had brought. This official having 
received over not only every article of our baggage down to 
the most insignificant strap but ourselves also, placed a guard 
to attend on us and protect it. It was very amusing to 
listen to the acceptance on the one side and discharge of 
obligation on the other— three bundles of paper, two straps, 
two teapots, three guns, four boxes, two soldiers of Dilly, one 
Englishman, who has two eyes, a nose, hair on his face, two 
arms, all safe and complete ! Had I come by any accident, or 
lost any prominent feature of my face, or if any of my I iggage 



442 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



had disappeared, the kingdom would have been bound to 
replace it in kind, or in value ! In this way I never had any 
anxiety about the safety of my property. 

The six eggs (the two tapers included) provided for our 
bodily sustenance by the Eajah, being anything but sufficient 
for three men who had travelled through sun and rain for 
eleven hours, I sent a sharp message that something more 
substantial must be forthcoming, and at once. From a series of 
terrible howlings that reached our ears from the royal guard- 
room, it was evident that my message had been passed on to 
some unfortunate menial accompanied by an application to 
quicken his search, which resulted in a fowl and some other 
comestibles finally being brought. 

On the 4.th April I was roused early by a vigorous tatoo 
from the Rajah's guard-house. The katjeru, or royal drummer, 
is a hereditary official of high and coveted rank in the 
kingdom, for they hold that when Maromak made Timor he 
gave the people a standard-bearer to lead them to war, and a 
katjeru to walk beside him — " like man and wife." 

As the Eajah, notwithstanding the noisy tatoo at his door, 
seemed to be a very late riser, I set out for the crest of the hill 
above our camp to take a round of observations. To reach the 
most convenient place for my purpose I had to pass through a 
strong barricaded enclosure in which were several apparently 
closed up and uninhabited houses. It was some minutes 
before it struck me that I was in the presence of, to me the 
most interesting of their buildings and their most sacred 
institution — which I had seen, but without learning anything 
about, at Sauo — the Uma-Luli, a designation which I scarcely 
know how to translate other than by Pomali House. 

I am extremely doubtful whether it is to be reckoned among 
their really religious institutions or not. It has connection 
with the practice of the Taboo, but whether it has been 
introduced into this island along with a race that migrated 
from the Pacific, or has arisen de novo among themselves I am 
unable to conjecture. It is just possible that on their own 
customs they may have grafted an imitation of some of the 
rites of the Romish ritual, which has now more or less been 
known to them for 300 years. If a family cluster consists of 
several houses, there is invariably one among them called the 



IN TIMOR. 443 



Uma-Luli ; and near the residence of the rajah there is always 
one large one, which is the Uma-Luli of the kingdom. As a 
rule, however, the tribal Uma-Luli is flanked by two others, or 
occasionally by more, if the kingdom is large. These edifices 
almost invariably stand in a cleared space, surrounded by a 
thick fence, as here within a grove of trees on some elevated spot. 
Within this fence no twig or branch may be broken or cut, no 
blade of grass plucked, and no stone overturned under the fear 
of the vengeance of the luli ; no tobacco is permitted to be 
taken within the sacred boundaries, and no horse or buffalo may 
stray within it. The buildings themselves are large, carefully 
built and tended structures of bamboo, raised above the ground 
on pillars, and possessing two doors, one at the side and one at 
the end. The Luli house can be at once recognised, Mere it 
by nothing else than by the buffalo crania with which it is 
decorated on the outside. 

An officer who holds one of the highest, and certainly the 
most influential position in the kingdom, has charge of the 
buildings, and presides over the sacred rites which are con- 
ducted in them. He is known as the Dato-Luli, or Bai- 
Luli. In times of peace, and on all ordinary occasions, an old 
man or woman lives in the building, as a sort of care-taker ; 
such a person is named the Luliata. Sometimes an old man 
and his wife reside all day in it, but they may not both — 
being of opposite sexes — remain all night. 

It is not very easy to obtain a good idea of the interior 
arrangements of the Uma-Luli, as it is impossible for heretics 
to get within it, or often very near it, Even natives of Timor 
who have become nominally Sirani (Christian) are prohibited 
from entering it; but by sedulously questioning those who 
knew, I was able to gather that of the two doors (whose direc- 
tion does not seem to be a matter of importance), one is re- 
served for the Dato-Luli, or chief priest, and the other for the 
persons consulting the fates to enter. By the Datos door no 
one but himself may enter ; it opens into a portion railed off 
by ornamented wooden pillars from the larger portion of 
the building, into which the people have entrance. In the 
smaller part are preserved different articles of veneration— the 
cranium of a buffalo, a spear, a shield, a chopper, a gun (almost 
falling to pieces, and of an old, old pattern, my guide told me, 



444 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



" yet it is more powerful than any other gun, however new ") ; 
besides these there is a bag containing *the vestments of the 
priest, which are a broad band of scarlet cloth for his head, a 
circular breastplate of gold, worn suspended on the neck ; two 
gold discs, about 15 centimetres in diameter, to cover the ears ; 
a broad crown of gold, with two long buffalo-like horns of the 
same material projecting from it, and gold armlets and earrings. 
Within this enclosure there is, besides, the most sacred object 
of all — the Vatu-Luli, or stone on which the offerings are laid 
to the invisible deity. Each of these stones they believe to 
have been given to the people of Timor for this purpose when 
the universe was made. In the larger portion of the building- 
there is a fire-place, and vessels and cooking utensils sacred to 
the use of the TJma-Luli. 

The different buildings are fitted up in the same way, but 
only on high occasions is the central one opened. It is kept 
open during the whole time of war, and in it quarrels arising 
between the different districts of the kingdom are arranged. 
In times of flood or of drought or of famine an offering is made 
to ward off this disaster. If a man has an ordinary sickness 
in his house, he does not consult either of the larger Luli 
houses, but offers a fowl or a pig to the Lull — at a little railed- 
off portion — in his own house. If he should lose several 
members of his family, or he be oppressed by any other great 
distress, he then applies to the priest for permission to speak 
with the Luli. Then, bringing rice with a pig or a fowl, he 
enters the TJma-Luli with the Dato, each going in by his own 
door. When the Dato has put on his proper vestments he 
kills the fowl or other animal, and having placed a piece of 
flesh from its heart and the side of its head on the Vatu-Luli, 
or altar-stone, he cooks the rest along with the rice on the fire 
in the Luli house. After both have partaken of this food, the 
Dato converses with the Luli, and thereafter turning to the 
applicant he gives him siri and pinang-nut, with the assurance 
that the sickness will depart or his difficulty disappear. Before 
planting their Indian corn or paddy crop, they kill a pig or 
fowl, and both on their own Luli stone and on that in the sacred 
house common to the district, they lay a piece of its flesh. 

Their greatest ceremonial, however, takes place on the eve 
of a war. I shall never forget the graphic description given 



IN TIMOR. 445 

me by the guide who Mas accompanying me, and who hims< If 
in a late war had been an actor in the scene, of the selecting 
by Heaven of those who were to sustain the honour of 
their country in the field. On the eve of a war, he told 
me, messengers are sent to every corner of the kingdom 
and country to summon from wherever he is, and from 
whatever he is employed, every man who owes alle- 
giance to their Rajah. From the Uma-Luli near which we 
stood, the hill sloped up in a vast shallow, natural amphi- 
theatre, bounded on all sides by precipitous and inaccessible 
valleys. " Here," he said, " every man of the kingdom assem- 
bled, each with a fowl in his hand on which to read his fate, 
until the whole of this hill was full, sitting close too-ethcr in 
silence, each man dressed in his war attire, with his gun on his 
shoulder, his sword by his side and his spear in his hand ; they 
sat row upon row from the bottom all the way up to the top 
there, round and round." As he spoke his eyes flashed up, 
and I could picture to myself the wild and expectant mien of 
the half-savage crowd. " The Dato-LuH," he continued, " then 
appeared at the door of the great Lidi house in all the awesome 
vestments of his office, with the sacred spear and the gun and 
the shield beside him, and before them all he sacrificed a buffalo. 
After placing a piece of its flesh, along with siri and pinang on 
the Vatu-luli, or altar-stone, he invoked the spirits of our dead 
forefathers, then on Maromak of the heavens (in other districts 
the deity is known by the name Urubatu and Laraida, signifying 
sun and moon) and on Him of the earth. Then in turn he called 
out every man present singly, who, advancing to the high 
priest each with his fowl in his hand, gave it to the Dato-LuU, 
who slayed it in presence of the assembled company. According 
as the animal dies with its right foot or its left foot elevated^ 
and according as the colour of the siri juice which the Dato 
expectorates on the brow and breast of the man before him is 
bright scarlet or dark, does the Maromak indicate whether th" 
man is chosen to fight for his kingdom or destined to stay at 
home and guard the women. If the fowl die with its right Leg 
elevated, and the siri spittle be bright scarlet, tin- omens are 
in favour of the consultor, who then, turning from the Dato- 
Lull, draws his sword, and, brandishing it wildly in th.' air. 
exclaims— ' I'm a Man; I'm a Brave,' and takes his place on 
30 



446 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



the hillside apart along with the chosen. If the left limb of the 
fowl remain elevated, or the siri spittle on the brow and breast 
of the applicant appear of a dark colour he stands rejected., 
and retires crest-fallen to a place in another group on the left. 
Those rejected on the first occasion may re-consult the omens 
a second time ; and, if the fates permit them to go to the war, 
it is probable that they may be wounded, and not impossible 
that they may be killed. If any man who has been rejected, 
however, dares to venture into the fight, he will certainly, 
they implicitly believe, be killed, whereas in the case of those 
whom the Luli has chosen, no bullet or weapon can hurt them. 
When the number of those who are to fight is complete, their 
leader is called out before them by the Dato-Lidi, who, after 
giving him siri and pinang out of his own mouth to eat, 
instructs him how to treat the wounded, and to give the dying 
their last siri and pinang, a supply of which he gives him from 
that preserved in the Uma-Luli" 

During war the Dato never quits the Uma-Luli; his food 
is brought to him or cooked inside. Day and night he must 
keep the fire burning, for should he permit it to die, disaster 
will happen to those in the field which will continue as long 
as the hearth is cold. He must besides drink only hot water 
during the time the army is absent, for every draught of cold 
water would damp the spirits of the people, so that they could 
not prevail. On their return from the war the Dato-Lidi goes 
out to welcome them at the head of all those who remained 
behind — the women beating musical instruments, and shouting 
" Oswai I Osivai ! " to the men who are returning laden with 
heads. 

Their belief in the presence of a supernatural Presence 
resident in the Z^'-house is absolute. I was told, with the 
most perfect belief of my informant in his own statements, that 
one of the Catholic priests from Dilly, while on a proselytizing 
mission, having demanded that the Luli house should be 
dismantled and its profane ornaments cleared out, was instantly 
on his setting foot within the door to commit the sacrilegious 
act which no one else would dare to do, threatened by the 
sacred spear, sword and gun in invisible hands, while the altar- 
stone bounded about through the building so menacingly that 
he was glad to beat a retreat ! When it is necessary to erect 



IN TIMOR. 447 



a new Lull house, every male in the kingdom must contribute 
a share of the labour and cost. When it is finished a buffalo is 
killed to consecrate the building. When this has been properly 
done, the vestments, the sacred stone and utensils are then 
carried in, and a second buffalo is sacrificed and portions of its 
flesh laid on the Lull stone. A great feast follows with music 
and dancing, in which the Bato-Luli in his sacred attire, and 
the rest of the people in their gayest dresses and ornaments 
take part. 

I took advantage of my enforced stay here to increase my 
herbarium with many of the interesting plants I had seen on 
our way up from the Maukuda river, obtaining some very rare 
species, such as Hypoxia hygrometrica, Wollastcnia asperrima, 
and an Ophioglossum fern. 

In the evening the Leorei at last arrived to pay his official 
visit. I had hoped to find the Rajahs of the interior hedged 
round with some state. I was quite disappointed, for although 
not without some dignity of bearing, there was little to distin- 
guish him from those about him except that he wore a Malayan 
sarong, and that his Tdis, or native-made toga-like robe, was 
ornamented and fringed with silk, an insignia of royalty. He 
was not yet cle facto ruler, for his father was "sleeping" (the 
long sleep) " in his house," and not yet buried, as there were 
not yet amassed sufficient cattle and pigs for a royal sepulture. 
He spoke and read Portuguese with some fluency, and by the 
questions he asked about the objects of my journey, and in 
the quickness with which he comprehended my description of 
the working of an aneroid, a thermometer and a prismatic 
compass that I showed him, he exhibited an amount of 
intelligence that rather surprised me. • Why the magnetic 
needle turned always to the same point puzzled him beyond 
measure, and I could see that my reply, that Maromak made 
it so, was not altogether satisfactory to him. 

Like most of the Rajahs, who in their periodical visits to 
Dilly have been brought into contact with, and influenced by 
the Catholic priests, my royal friend was a professor of their 
faith, as well as a follower of the pagan rites of his o\\ n people ; 
and to see over against the Lull temple, a lone and uncompre- 
hended symbol of the Christian faith in front of a small, 
neglected* bamboo edifice representing a chapel of its rship, 



448 A NATURALIST' S WANDERINGS 



could not but raise strange reflections in the breast of a 
European traveller. 

As still another day of waiting for the horses for the 
continuance of our journey — to the kingdom of Bibigupu — had 
to be passed here, I was not disappointed at the opportunity 
thus afforded of increasing my herbarium along the slopes 
of Busconna, whose summit commanded a view of both seas 
— the Tassi-feto or female sea on the north, and the Tassi- 
manni or male sea (as the natives have named them), to the 
south — and of the peak of Kabalaki, the highest mountain 
of all Eastern Timor. The mountains of Turskain were every- 
where covered with a rich carpet of green grass, which gave 
them a most pleasant and fertile appearance, and on which 
thousands of sheep might be pastured with great profit. 



IN TIMOR 449 



CHAPTER III. 

IN THE KINGDOM OP BIBICUCU. 

Leave for Bibicucu — Bridles — A trio of Braves — War and its attendant 
ceremonies— Rahomali — Luli ground — Bibicucu — Harvest-fields — Culti- 
vation — Take the law into my own hands — -Connubial relations — Water- 
fall — Birds — -Herbarium — -Disquieting news — -Mount Kabalaki — Move 
forward to Saluki — Native market — Description of natives seen there — 
Ornaments — Dyes— An enraged Timorese — Red-haired race — Timorese 
a mixed race — Up the Makulala River — Gold — Ceremonies of gold- 
gathering — Arrive at the Rajah of Saluki's. 

Friday, April 6th. — At daylight began the loading of the 
horses and men ; but finding that the herbarium gathered at 
Turskain would from its size hamper our progress very much, 
I had it packed up and sent by special messengers to Fatunaba 
to A. About seven o'clock we got under weigh for the Kajah 
of Bibicucu's by a south-east course towards the sharp peak of 
Tahaolat. The horse I now rode was furnished with a native 
saddle, composed of long pads on each side of the spine, 
secured by cords instead of bands, and with neat wooden 
pulleys in place of buckles. The Timorese in riding place 
only the great toe in the stirrup, consequently these were 
merely little blocks of wood at the end of a cord, with a hole 
for the insertion of the digit; or, often more simply still, a 
small wooden disk for the support of the first two toes, between 
which the stirrup cord is grasped. The bridle-bit — a fearful 
instrument of torture from the sharp spikes with which it was 
armed — was of brass, of native manufacture and good work- 
manship, cast, as I was told, in separate pieces in a mould of 
wax, lined with very fine clay. 

On one of the hill-tops on our way we passed three men who 
had come from a neighbouring hut to see our cavalcade. My 
servant, who was a native of the kingdom we were approach- 



450 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



ino-, gave and received from the group a hard stare ; but no 
words were exchanged. When we had gone a little way, he 
looked back at the group. " These are Braves," he said, after 
a little, with somewhat of admiration, I thought, in his tone. 

" Indeed ! " I said, " how do you know ? " 

"The tallest of them," he replied, with a coolness that 
astonished me, " cut off my father's head in their war with 
Bibipucu." 

"Do you not feel any rancour towards him? Don't you 
wish to have it out with him now ? " 

" Oh, no ! the two kingdoms are now at peace ; each has 
given back the heads they took, long ago." 

The custom of head-hunting, as carried on among the wild 
tribes of Borneo, is not practised among the Timorese except 
during war, which is begun after the most explicit declaration. 

When a raid by one tribe has taken place on the fields or 
herds of a tribe in a neighbouring kingdom, a messenger is 
sent with the intelligence to its Rajah. If the rulers of the 
two kingdoms are united by the ordinary ties of friendship, or 
by the sanctity of the blood-bond, the affair is settled after 
long parleys and discussions, by the payment of an agreed-on 
price. Kingdoms related to the belligerents by ties of marriage 
or sworn brotherhood usually send a contingent to assist in 
the war, or a kingdom may hire men from a neighbouring 
or friendly power. If any of these are killed they must be 
redeemed by a large sum, so much for the eyes, hair, mouth, 
nose, and for every limb and organ of the body, much after the 
custom of reckoning the value of a man in vogue in the island 
of Bum or among our own early ancestors. " The freeman's 
life and the freeman's limb had each on this (bloodwite) 
system its legal price. ' Eye for an eye,' ran the rough code, 
and ' life for life,' or for each fair damages." 

If no goodwill exist between the two kingdoms, no satisfac- 
tion will be obtained. War is prepared for, and by the sacred 
rites described above the men who are to sustain their cause in 
the field are selected. At length, when the armies meet, a last 
discussion of the question is held by a representative of each 
side who advances in front of the respective armies. If no 
agreement is come to the fight begins. Being really of a very 
cowardly spirit, they never fight in the open but from behind 



IN TIMOR. 451 



trees and crags. Hostilities are carried on mostly by the 
offensive army pillaging and ravaging all they can lav hands 
on, robbing every undefended dwelling, ruthlessly decapitating 
helpless men, women, and children, and even infants. 

In most districts all the warriors fight on foot; but the 
Lamkitos, who live between Alias on the south coast and the 
great mountain of Kabalaki, fight from horseback with their 
legs tied under their horses' bellies, so that, in case of their 
being wounded or killed, they may be carried back to their 
own village with their heads on their shoulders. 

When one of their number has fallen, sorely wounded or 
killed, there is in general a grand stampede of all his com- 
panions. The valiant marksman rushes forward, and, standing 
over his fallen foe, calls out to his friends, " Ho ! what is the 
name of this man ? " His friends call back, " Ho ! that is so 
and so ; " to which the response is, " Know, then, that I am so 
and so," and, lifting up his enemy's head by the ear or the 
hair, he decapitates him at a blow. He carries off the head in 
triumph, retires to his own house, and sets about preparing and 
preserving the head, by removing the brain and drying the 
flesh and skin before a slow fire. He never washes his hands 
till he returns with the army to its own capital, when those 
who come back carrying heads are saluted by the women, who 
along with the Dato Lull have come out to meet them with 
music, with the cry of Oswai! Oswai! (" Braves ! braves ! ' ) 

For every head the fortunate warrior brings back ho 
receives a present from the Rajah, and a circular disk, or hue 
of gold, which he henceforth continually wears round his neck 
— a Timorese Victoria Cross. The captured heads are carefully 
preserved by both sides in the conflict, till such time as 
amicable relations can be established between them, when a 
general assembly of the two kingdoms is held whither the 
heads taken in the war are brought also, and amid terrible 
bowlings and lamentations they are restored by each side t< > 
the relatives of the deceased. Each "Brave," in giving up 
the head he has taken, gives a small gift to the relatives that 
friendship between them may be restored, which is cemented 
by, as usual, a boisterous feast, concluded by heavy drinking, 
and the wild dancing of the Tabedu already described. The 
recovered heads are now placed with the unburied members, 



452 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

which can then obtain sepulture. Every head is invariably 
forthcoming at such a peace-making, otherwise amicable rela- 
tions could scarcely be restored, certainly not without a very 
heavy price for the missing skull. 

The ceremony of blood-brotherhood alluded to above, or the 
swearing of eternal friendship, is of an interesting nature, and 
is celebrated often by fearful orgies, especially when friendship 
is being made between families, or tribes, or kingdoms. The 
ceremony is the same in substance whether between two 
individuals or large companies. The contracting parties slash 
their arms, and collect the blood into a bamboo, into which 
kanipa (coarse gin) or laru (palm-wine) is poured. Having 
provided themselves with a small fig-tree (lialik) they adjourn 
to some retired spot, taking with them the sword and spear from 
the Luli chamber of their own houses if between private indi- 
viduals, or from the Uma-Luli of their Suku if between large 
companies. Planting there the fig-tree, flanked by the sacred 
sword and spear, they hang on it a bamboo-receptacle, into 
which — after pledging each other in a portion of the mixed 
blood and gin — the remainder is poured. Then each swears, 
'•' If I be false, and be not a true friend, may my blood issue from 
my mouth, ears, nose, as it does from this bamboo ! " the bottom 
of the receptacle being pricked at the same moment to allow the 
blood and gin to escape. The tree remains and grows as a 
witness of their contract. It is one of their most sacred oaths, and 
almost never, I am told, violated at least between individuals. 

If a member of a family of a king marries into that of 
another, the two kingdoms often swear friendship, and when 
the one is at war the other is bound to send men to aid him. 
One brother coming to another brother's house is in every 
respect regarded as free, and as much at home as its owner. 
Nothing is withheld from him ; even his friend's wife is not 
denied him, and a child born of such an union would be 
recognised by the husband as his. In speaking of the 
Greenland Esquimaux, Egede expressly states that they were 
reputed the best and noblest-tempered, who, without any pain 
or reluctance, would lend their friends their wives. 

Ascending by a very steep path, bordered with Mitrosacme, 
hare-bells, geraniums, wood-sorrel and some liliaceous plants, 
we reached the top of Eahomali at 4700 feet, whence a 



IN TIMOR. 453 

magnificent view lay before us of an immense tract of country 
between both seas, riven and ploughed up in the most gigantic 
manner, not an acre of level land being visible anywhere save 
by the margin of the seas, and in which every isolated peak 
and crag was capped by a dwelling. Having halted a short 
time to survey the scene, I observed that the sky was becoming 
overcast, and gave orders to the men to move on briskly in 
advance, as I feared it would rain. My boy turned sharply 
and besought me, 4 ' Oh, master, do not say that word ! " (for 
rain); "these mountains are not good, and if you say that 
word here, we shall certainly be overtaken in a storm." The 
incident recalled to me a like dread of certain mountain-tops 
exhibited by the natives in Burn. 

Hence our course lay almost due south right over the peak 
of Tahaolat — rising up to 6000 feet; but its impracticable 
crags necessitated our making a descent of 2000 feet by a 
spiral track round half its girth, in the face of an almost 
perpendicular slope, from which radiated many deep and in- 
accessible ravines, clothed, I could perceive, with a dense and 
interesting vegetation of Laurinise, Ericacese and numerous 
small epidendric orchids and Lycopods. 

Where the spur of Tahaolat commenced to rise towards 
Mount Ailor — 4200 feet — I rode close past a pond full of ducks 
of the species Tadorna rajah, whose very tameness and utter 
disregard of us might have told me, even if I had not been 
carefully warned, that they were on Lull ground, where I dare 
not shoot ; even the scarlet atyee covering the surface of the 
water, it was sacrilege to touch. A long and gradual descent 
brought us at last to the Kajah's of Bibifupu, where we were 
assigned a guarda on a windy bluff at 3200 feet above the sea, 
commanding a view of the whole country along the southern 
coast from beyond Cape Luca in the east to far past Alias in 
the west, its low littoral grooved by broad blue-black river-beds 
margined with casuarinas. Within the neighbouring kingdom 
of Manufahi the Peak of Kabalaki, with its rugged battle- 
ments and beetling crags, reared its majestic summit over 
10,000 feet into the air. The whole region was hewed up into 
narrower and more precipitous valleys than any I had yet 
traversed — features awesome and imposing, but with little to 
commend them to a kindly place in the affections. 



454 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



I was struck by observing that the roofs of the houses about 
me were surmounted by an ornament (see opposite page) 
closely resembling that found on temples in Fiji, as shown in 
Stanford's ' Australasia/ which may perhaps be an indication 
of some relationship or communication in former times with 
the Polynesian races. In one of the baskets which I obtained 
in the Tenimber Islands, the lid, which was hut-shaped, cul- 
minated in an ornament of the same form. 

The Rajah himself was absent, and we did not receive a 
particularly pleasant welcome from the Rajah Katuas, who was 
acting as his substitute ; but, desiring to live on the best terms 
possible with this kingdom, where I hoped to make a prolonged 
stay, I overlooked as much as possible his conduct. From 
what I had learned of the district from my boy while still at 
Fatunaba, my curiosity and interest were excited, not only in 
its flora and fauna, but in the curious customs that prevailed 
among the people of this rarely visited and little known 
region. 

In travelling south, after crossing the Kaimauk river, a 
considerable change is observable in the flora. The Melaleuca 
greatly diminishes in numbers, while in the ravines Casuarinas, 
Urostigmas, and species of Ficus become more abundant ; and 
Acacias, aromatic Labiatse, shrubby Malvaceae and Melastomacese 
cover the more exposed slopes, where also clumps of tall, dark 
foliaged bamboos, with graceful nodding plumes, form quite a 
feature in the landscape. Whenever considerable patches of 
trees have attained the dignity of a wood, one may be sure that 
there the land is Luli — sacred territory — where, if he is per- 
mitted to enter, the botanist may not break or cut a single 
branch. These spots — often the highest peaks of mountains — 
having been lulied for generations, must be the richest store- 
houses of all the rarest plants and trees in their localities. 

How aggravating to the spirit it w r as to be prevented from 
collecting there it is needless to describe. 

My collecting was often enlivened by the sound of happy 
singing from the fields, which on all sides were during my 
stay in the height of the rice harvest, here as in all other lands 
a season of mirth and rejoicing. In the harvest-field every 
one — old men, women, and children— comes out to help. The 
older people in the centre of a long line, with the youths on 



IN TIMOR. 455 



the one hand and the maidens on the other, advance from the 
margin of the field, stripping off between their fingers the 
grains of corn into little baskets carried in the hand. The 
older men strike up a song, to which the youths and maidens 
sing a chorus, while sometimes the youths sing, and are replied 
to by the maidens, in more or less amorous strains. Behind 
this line two carriers bear an immense basket for the reception 
of the contents of the smaller ones in the hands of the reapers, 
who call out when these are filled. When the crop is all 
gathered a great feast— called SaUcdah—is given, at which 
immense quantities of the new and sweet rice are consumed, 
along with pig or goat flesh and abundant libations of Jcanipa, 
followed by music and dancing throughout the entire night. 

In Bibicucu rice was grown largely; but the most exten- 
sively cultivated and consumed cereal in Timor is the Indian 
corn, which is grown often on the very steepest slopes, where a 
cool head and a sure foot are required to move about safely. 
A simple pointed stake for making holes to receive the corns, 
and a rude hoe called haissualie, with which they roughly 
scrape the ground after it has been cleared by fire, are their 
only agricultural implements. In the flat lands by the coast, 
where rice is grown in water-covered fields, entailing in their 
preparation much greater labour, the people of a Suku com- 
bine together to construct their common irrigating channels. 

Before the sowing of the fields a fowl or a small pig is 
sacrificed in the Luli chamber of the owner's house and a rich 
head of rice and Indian corn suspended as an invocation for a 
bountiful harvest. It amused me to observe how meanly they 
had occasionally tricked their invisible Spirit by offering only 
a husk of maize from which all the corns had been carefully 
picked ! In the month Fotan when the grain has all been 
gathered, the greatest Luli feast of the year takes place, at 
which a buffalo is offered by the Dato in the great Luli house 
of the Suku as a harvest thanksgiving. 

Only on the return of the Rajah, three days after my arrival, 
was I able to obtain horses to send back to Fatunaba for the 
botanical drying-paper and the trade goods which I was 
unable to bring with me. He had been in a distant part of his 
kingdom near the south coast, looking after the harvesting of 
rice-fields that he had there, and had returned for a day only 



456 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



to see that I was properly attended. His instructions, how- 
ever, were neglected the moment he turned his back and left 
the direction of affairs to his old uncle, who acted as Viceroy. 
The kino-dom was by their custom bound to supply me with 
provisions, each family having one day's rations to provide 
and deliver at our guarda. As the people lived so widely 
scattered, they often managed to shirk their duty, leaving us 
utterly without anything to eat. I would far rather have 
purchased provisions ; but no one would sell or desired to sell. 
Out of their scant stores they grudgingly gave what they were 
ordered to give, and had they accepted any price for it, it 
would have been claimed by the Rajah. 

On one occasion, after having gone without a particle of 
food for a whole day, even after appeal and threats to the 
Viceroy, I took the law into my own hands by shooting the 
first large fat pig I encountered. It was the property, as it 
luckily turned out, of the Rajah himself. I say luckily, for 
I would rather that his herds were plundered than his people's, 
and because this simple act disclosed for me a curious 
law of their country. By the fault of some member of this 
community my act had caused this loss to the Rajah, a wrong 
which had to be expiated by a fine levied on all the Sukus of 
the kingdom, not on the offending individual alone. 

In the early days of our own history, " the price of life or limb 
was paid, not by the wrong-doer to the man he wronged, but by 
the family or house of the wrong-doer to the family or house of 
the wronged. Order and law were thus made to rest in each 
little group of English people upon the blood-bond which knit 
its families together ; every outrage was held to have been done 
by all who were linked by blood to the doer of it ; every crime 
to have been done against all who were linked by blood to the 
sufferers from it. From this sense of the value of the family 
bond as a means of restraining the wrong-doer by forces which 
the tribe as a whole did not possess, sprang the first rude forms 
of English justice. Each kinsman was his kinsman's keeper, 
bound to protect him from wrong-doing, and to suffer with 
and pay. for him if wrong were done." * 

This incident is one which well illustrates how near a 
traveller seeking for information of an abstract kind, may be 
* Green's 'History of the English People/ page 3. 



IN TIMOR. 457 



to missing some of the most characteristic and interesting of 
the laws and customs of a people, and how only by a lucky 
chance or mischance in the most unexpected way he may light 
on fundamental facts of their history. 

I was fortunate enough to gain also much information about 
the curious connubial relations prevailing in this part of the 
island, which recall the husband-clans and wife-clans existing 
among some of the Australian tribes. 

To the west of Bibicucu lies the neighbouring kingdom of 
Manufahi, and to the south-west that of Alias. The men of 
Manufahi cannot purchase wives from Bibicucu, but the men 
of Bibicucu can obtain wives by barter from Manufahi. The 
women of Bibicucu can obtain husbands from Manufahi, if 
these men come and live during the lifetime of their wives 
in the kingdom of their wives. No purchase-money may be 
paid, and none may be accepted for them. The sou of the 
Rajah of Manufahi may marry the daughter of the Rajah of 
Bibicucu, but he cannot on any condition obtain her by pur- 
chase, nor may she settle in Manufahi ; he must remain in 
Bibicucu during her lifetime. 

Saluki and Bidauk are two districts of the kingdom of 
Bibicucu. A man of Saluki may marry a woman of Bidauk, 
and take her back with him to Saluki ; but he must purchase 
her, and it is not in his option to remain in Bidauk with his 
wife's relatives instead of paying for her. On the other hand, 
the men of Bidauk can marry with the women of Saluki ; but 
the man must go to Saluki and live in the house of the woman, 
and he has not the option of paying for her at all. The 
children of the union belong to her, and on her death inherit 
all her property, while the husband returns to his own king- 
dom, leaving the children behind him, except in the case of 
their being; more than two, when he is entitled to claim at 
least one. This is possibly the remnants of matriarchal 
descent. These restrictions, however, do not hold with a 
man of Saluki if, for instance, he select a wife from a king- 
dom which is not related in this curious way to his <>un 
kingdom; also, as far as I am able to learn, Manufahi men 
may take wives from Alias — or Alias nun from Manufahi — 
on paying the ordinary price demanded in these kingdoms for 
a wife, without incurring any restriction as to residence . The 



458 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

Timorese apply the name Vasumanni to the husband-giving, 
and Fttosau to the woman-supplying clan. 

In Timor monogamy is the rule ; concubinage is also 
practised ; but rarely otherwise than among the Rajahs 
and chiefs. The wife of the Rajah — his concubines may be 
whom he will — must be the daughter of a royal house, and is 
selected by the people of the kingdom from among the best- 
looking daughters of some neighbouring Rajah. When an 
agreement has been come to as to the price of the bride 
between these people or their representatives and the father of 
the girl — always with the consent of her father's people — the 
suitor-kingdom sends a deputation to stay and be, as it were, 
a guard over the prospective mother of their future king, 
till the price — always a large sum, often as many as two 
or three hundred buffaloes, along with herds of horses and 
goats, of sheep and pigs, of gold in dust and gold manufac- 
tured, with piles of native cloth — has been paid. When the 
money and gold portion of it has been sent to the father of the 
girl, the future husband is invited, as a rule, to his father-in- 
law's, where, after a great feast, at which hundreds of buffaloes 
are killed, the girl is handed over to her lord and master to be 
conveyed to his own kingdom. A large escort of her father's 
people convey her to her new home, where, as long as any part 
of the price is unpaid, they remain guests, as a daily reminder 
to the Rajah that the balance is still to pay. 

If the Rajah have a son, he succeeds his father. If he have 
daughters only, the eldest becomes Rajah in esse, whose active 
duties are performed by a lieutenant, and the others may 
become the wives of neighbouring Rajahs. If no Rajah offers 
for them, they may not be married to any one not of royal 
descent, with the exception, perhaps, and that very rarely, of 
some of the highest officers in the kingdom. 

The people of the kingdom choose their queen's husband. 
Having fixed their choice on a suitable person in some neigh- 
bouring kingdom, they send a deputation to request the per- 
mission of its Rajah and people for one of his sons to become 
the husband of their queen. If the proposal is agreeable to 
them, the selected youth is conveyed to his new kingdom, 
receives its queen as a gift, and is endowed with the status 
and rank of a nominal Rajah. He must remain in his new 




VIEW IN THE SEKARATA VALLEY, BIBigi^U. 



IN TIMOR. 459 

kingdom as long as his wife is alive, and his children belong 
to the kingdom of his adoption. If, however, there are more 
children than two, a boy, or a boy and a girl, belong to the 
husband, and are at liberty to return to, and are in fact 
claimed by his father's kingdom, and are the inheritors of 
his property, while the rest are heirs of her's. When the 
queen dies, her consort returns to his father's kingdom, but 
he can take with him nothing from his wife's home ; every- 
thing there belongs to her children. If he die first, his body 
is carried to his own family burying-ground ; but I am not 
sure by whom the death-and-burial feasts are provided. 

If the Eajah of Bibicucu, for instance, have no children, 
the people of his kingdom beg the services of a son always of 
the Eajah of Manufahi, as their Eajah, for the payment of a 
certain sum to his kingdom as hire. His new kingdom then 
purchases a wife for him, if he be unmarried. Should the 
kingdom of Manufahi lose all heirs to its throne, it may 
demand back again the reigning Eajah of Bibicucu. If he 
has children while Eajah of Bibicucu, or afterwards, they 
belong to the kingdom which purchased for him his wife, 
with the reservation just mentioned, of a boy or a boy and a 
girl to become his heirs. If, however, the kingdom of Bibi- 
cucu has bought and not hired merely the son of the Eajah of 
Manufahi, he cannot be recalled on a vacancy occurring in 
his own father's kingdom. 

In the sunny valley of Serarata, near a picturesque water- 
fall, butterflies, chiefly of the common families of Pieridw and 
Lijcmiidse, were abundant, and formed all along the water's 
edge quite a border of bright colour. Bird-life was far 
scarcer than nearer the northern coast, but along the more 
wooded flat lands by the southern shores, the natives informed 
me that they are very plentiful. A lively little Pipit (Anthus 
medius), with the perfect habits and call of a Wagtail, fre- 
quented the barer grass fields in flocks, while among the 
shrubberies a pretty Cisticola which I first took to be a wren, 
and a black Fantail Flycatcher (Rhipidwra rnjiventris), flitted 
about with the restless "habit of their tribe. A bright orange 
Pachycephala and a species of Tit (Par us timcrensh), which 1 
did not obtain, were not uncommon. On the trees the white- 
headed Fruit-pigeon (Ptilopus ductus) sat motionless during 



460 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



the heat of the day in numbers, on well-exposed branches ; 
but it was with the most extreme difficulty that I, or my 
sharp-eyed native servant, could ever detect them, even in 
trees where we knew they were sitting. The peculiar colora- 
tion of the plumage of these birds in the hand or in the 
cabinet is so conspicuous and striking that it would scarcely 
be believed that they can occupy leafless branches (if there be 
foliage behind and above them) with the most perfect safety 
from detection. Neither the kakuak (Philemon), the oriole, nor 
the cuckoo (Centropus), which were so conspicuous among the 
trees and shrubs around Fatunaba, were observed at Bibicucu. 

My herbarium, however, made more rapid increase than any 
of my other collections, and every day I gathered plants rare 
or unknown in any European cabinet, to which perhaps the 
handsomest addition was a large climbing species of Artocarpese, 
with the chastest possible foliage, which coiled itself in regular 
spirals about the bole of a tall tree. Its stem was studded 
with figs in all stages of growth and of almost every hue, from 
richest purple-lake dotted and blotched with pure chinese- 
white. to light red or brilliant scarlet speckled with the 
deepest orange ; others again, when gathered and laid in a 
heap on the ground, might have passed for the eggs of some 
of the Pheasant or Grouse families. 

On the 20th of April the horses returned from Fatunaba, 
bringing me the botanical drying-paper of which I was so 
much in need ; and in corners of the baggage, where A. had 
mindfully thrust them, I found welcome additions to my table, 
which could not have been spared, however, I knew, without 
pinching the meagre Fatunaba larder; and among which I 
found a note with the evil and disquieting tidings that our 
house had been attacked in the night and plundered of nearly 
all the stock of trade goods and other valuables that it con- 
tained by the treacherous hill-men, who had taken advantage 
of her defenceless condition. She bravely said nothing of 
being afraid, so I could only hope that the anxious fear — more 
trying than the danger of the moment — of further visits from 
them might not in the oppressive stillness of the night in her 
unprotected hut, prey on her nerves not then fully recovered 
from the severe strain of that short but trying scare of a 
Kaleobar attack in Timor-laut. 



IN TIMOR. 461 

I retained the porters and horses to convey me next day to 
Saluki, on the other side of the valley of the Makalaha, where 
I had arranged to go, not without great disappointment ; for 
every day then would be taking me farther from Kabalaki 
in the Manufahi kingdom, which I had wistfully gazed at 
so long, and whose summit must support a flora the most 
interesting of all Eastern Timor. My Hindu guide, however, 
refused the responsibility of conducting me thither, not only 
because of the Lamkito robbers who skulk in the long grass 
at its base to pick off and rob all passers by, but also because 
war was on the eve of breaking out between the two king- 
doms, which would prevent any Bibicueai man from accom- 
panying us. 

In leaving Bibicucu I made a detour from the shortest 
way, attended by a high official of the kingdom, to the bed 
of the Makalaha, which was reached by a steep winding 
descent of 1600 feet, as I was very anxious to see the weekly 
market of the district, which was held under the Casuarina 
trees there. 

As soon as my approach was observed a loud screaming 
from the women and children spread an alarm resulting in a 
stampede of the entire concourse. The officer accompanying 
me dashed among them, shouting and reassuring them that I 
was only passing by, and was in no way going to meddle with 
them. Meantime I had sat down under the shade to place 
in paper the plants I had gathered on the way down, with- 
out lifting my eyes toward them, and as quite unconscious 
of their presence there. By slow degrees, first one, then 
another and another, enticed like so many monkeys by 
curiosity, crept in about to see the, to them, strange perform- 
ance, and as I differed little from an ordinary human being 
they forgot their fright, and in a little while the market was 
proceeding in its accustomed way, through which I then 
strolled quietly with open and interested eyes. 

There were between two and three hundred people congre- 
gated—a wild and savage-like crowd. The men were di 
in little more than the ordinary T-bandage or hahpolike of 
native make, about their loins; some, but not all, of them 
had a kerchief girt about the head, while their hair was 
twisted into a knot on the top or back of the head, 01 »mbed 
31 



462 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



out into a crimped or semi-frizzled mop. Every man wore 
suspended over his shoulder a tais or plaid, which differed in 
ornamentation and excellence of manufacture according to the 
district in which it had been made. From his shoulder-knob 
depended his coi, or wallet, the cords for whose opening and 
closing were elaborately strung with circular disks of shells 
alternating with dice-like beads of bone richly carved. In 
this is carried a store of betel-leaves and pinang-nut, with 
tobacco and other chewing necessarie's, and the universal 
bamboo drinking-cup in case in his travels he should meet 



MWK 




ORNAMENTED COMB. 



some friend or acquaintance who has a supply of palm-wine 
(laru) or of hanipa, as they name the coarse gin imported 
by thousands of cases every month into the country. 

Every man was armed with a spear and a long knife, and 
if he had not a long Tower flint-lock over his shoulder, he 
grasped a bow and a handful of arrows, light shafts made 
of the tall canes that grow everywhere in the island, tipped 
with poisoned bamboo barbs. Many of them carried besides 
a buffalo-hide shield to ward off the stones which, suddenly 
enraged, they are in the habit of discharging — and with 



IN TIMOR. 463 

wonderful power and accuracy— at each other. Most of the 
men had round the waist ammunition pouches of thick buffalo- 
hide, in form much like European cartridge-belts, with com- 
partments for the small bamboo cylinders in which they keep 
gunpowder, shot, flints, balls of lead or of ruby crystals 
gathered out of the river beds ; here and there a man from 
the western kingdoms of the Portuguese territory could be 
told by the excellence of the construction of these accoutre- 
ments, and the elegant way in which they were studded with 
large tin-headed nails, or with rows of Dutch silver coins, 
and occasionally with an English sovereign among them 
transfixed by a nail through its centre. 

The women wear very few ornaments — a few arm-bands of 
silver or horn, and occasionally earrings, and, transfixing the 
knot in which their hair was gathered behind, a high semi- 
circular comb, elaborately carved in beautiful and complex 
patterns. These are said to be given by the youths to their 
sweethearts, and possibly represent a sort of engagement 
token. Their dress was a simple tunic, the taisfeta, hung 
from the waist or from the armpits to the knees. 

The women did all the selling and buying, while the men 
strutted about exchanging with each other drinks of palm- 
wine — to which they are inordinately given. Besides the 
different food stuffs, there were exposed for sale on the ground, 
piles of those beautiful cloths, entirely spun and woven by 
themselves, in which both between 
themselves and among the surround- 
ing islands a large trade is done, and 
cigarette and tobacco holders ex- 
quisitely woven out of thin shreds of 
palm-leaf, on which are worked in 
additional fibres most artistic coloured 
designs in yellow, red, and black, of 
dyes made also by themselves; the 
red out of the nut of the Morinda 
citrifolia, the yellow from the epi- j gft 
dermis of an epidendric orchid called ornamentation on small 
suaih, and the black (or dark blue) BAMBOa 

from the indigo. The favourite and typical carved ornai 
tion that I observed on their weapons and accoutiement- and 




464 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

engraved on the pipe figured on p. 429, closely resembles 
that on some of the ancient British remains found at Taplow 
in 1882. Another pattern is represented on page 463. 

I was told that rarely a month passed without once, or 
oftener. the market being suddenly broken up by a drunken 
brawl, as few of the men ever leave it sober. 

I myself witnessed the preliminary blaze of passion in a 
fierv spirit who, aggrieved in some way, had sought his foe in 
the market-place, whither he had come, however, just too late 
to find him. It was a sight to remember — the flashing eyes 
and passionate mien of that wild savage, the hasty and signifi- 
cant look at the priming of his flint-lock, as he dashed away in 
hot pursuit (a wild cry being passed down the valley to the 
pursued), bounding from rock to rock in the river bed like a 
chamois, his co'i and long knife dangling by his sides, and his 
tais flowing out behind him with the fleetness of his pace. I 
watched him till he disappeared behind a bend of the river ; 
but I never recall the features of the man without wondering 
what was the issue of that passionate chase. 

They are a vindinctive people, without a vestige of pity, 
as might be expected from their having always had the 
dealing out of punishments for wrong done to them by their 
own hands. A man I knew, whose neighbour had by accident 
(or design) killed his pig, failing to obtain the restitution he 
demanded, seized his neighbour's child and ran off with it, 
holding it on his shoulder as a shield against the father 
should he wish to fire on him, and carried it to the coast, 
where he purchased a horse with the proceeds of its sale. I 
do not know certainly, but I am strongly of impression, from 
what I know of the character of the people, that the vendetta 
exists among them. 

While in the act of turning from watching this human hunt 
to continue my journey my eye lighted on an object that 
riveted my interest more than all else among these savage 
marketers — a red-haired youth (first one, then a few others), 
some with straight, some with curly hair, with red eyelashes, 
blue eyes, and the hair over his body also reddish. I 
found, on inquiry, that a little colony of them, well known 
for their peculiar colour of hair and eyes, lived at Aituha, 
at no great distance off. Though they lived in a colony 



IN TIMOR. 4G5 



together, they were not shunned by their neighbours, who even 
intermarried with them. The offspring of these unions took 
sometimes after the one, sometimes after the other parent. 

In looking eagerly at their faces T saw more than their 
features only ; their presence there was an excerpt out of a 
long history. In imagination I saw past them down the dim 
avenues of Time— a far far cry- to their early progenitors, 
and pictured their weary retreat, full of strange and romantic 
vicissitudes from a more northern clime till forced off the 
mainland by superior might, into exile in this remote isle, 
where as a surviving remnant amid its central heights, thev 





FIG. 2. 
NATIVES OF BIBICUCU. 

are living united but not incorporated with the surrounding 
race whose pedigree has no link in common with their own. 

What the pedigree of the Timorese is I have not sufficient 
evidence for forming any decided opinion ; but that they are 
a race in which many elements commingle seems certain. I 
saw no one with what I can with perfect truth designate 
as "black skin'"' such as seen among the Am islanders. 
Tall, well-proportioned men, with frizzly hair, and of a rich 
yellowish brown or of a chocolate colour, I saw in abundance, 
as well as short, stumpy men, with straight hair on the head 
and with no lack of beard and moustaches. Mr. Earl * has 

also noticed the " great differences exhibited by tin- j plea 

of the tableland above Dilly. Some of the natives have a 
dull yellow colour; the parts exposed to the sun are c< rered 

* ' The Native Races of the Indian Archipelago,' 1853, ]>. 



466 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



with light brown patches ; the hair is straight and thin, 
and its natural colour reddish or of a dark chestnut brown. 
There are also found in Timor all intermediate shades of the 
skin, from dark yellow to black or chocolate brown, and the 
hair from red and straight to the short and woolly (in another 
place, ' short-tufted ') hair of the Papuas." As in Timor-laut, 
I believe we have in Timor a mixture of Malay represented 
perhaps in such faces as Figs. 1 and 2, Papuan (Fig. 3, p. 
466), and Polynesian (Fig. 4, p. 466) races. The accompany- 
ing figures, sketched from one kingdom, will show this mixture 
better than volumes of description ; they are the portraits of 




X 



NATIVES OF BIBICUCTJ. 




FIG. 4. 



people taken at random from those constantly about me in 
Bibicucu. The colour of skin, form of head, features of face, 
character and distribution of hair I met with in every variety 
and amount of comminglement. 

In the eastern extremity of the island the people, I am 
told, resemble Malays, and they speak the Malay language. 
Among the Fatumatubia Mountains — I have it on the, as I 
believe, excellent authority of one of the commandants of the 
district — lives a race of dwarfish people, speaking a " language " 
of their own. Their dwarfishness consists not so much in the 
dimensions of their bodies, as in the shortness of their limbs 
which are thick and strong. They live among the rocks, are 
great robbers and much detested. The men wear only the 



IN TIMOR. 467 

T-bandage ; while the women go absolutely naked, and when 
they appear to trade with other than their own people they 
ensconce themselves in baskets up to the arm-pits. These 
people may possibly be Negritoes. 

From the market-place our way lay up a most pleasant 
naturally macadamised road in the river bed by a very gentle 
ascent. The cliffs, of loose shingly horizontally-lying water- 
worn detritus, which banked it in on both hands, rose perpen- 
dicularly often, to 200 feet, through which in many places 
elbows of strata at right angles to the direction of the river 
protruded forming as it were a series of deep pockets, in the 
debris of which especially where there are largish boulders 
among it, is found the gold of which this river is said t<» 
contain more than any other in East Timor. The gold is most 
abundantly found in pockets beneath which strata dip as to 
form as it were a floor, the fatu-viti, the " mat {i.e. bottom) 
rock " of the native. The sources of this river, to which no one 
may approach without first sacrificing a pig or fowl, are most 
rigidly Luli. Only in one month of the year, when the river 
is at its lowest ebb, will they dare to undertake any gold- 
washing, and then only after one of their most solemn cere- 
monials. 

Befure deciding on a day to commence the gold-washing, 
some of the children— in order, as I imagine, that no suspicion 
may be awakened among the river spirits that the search is 
intended — are sent to report whether the river is sufficiently 
low, and in a favourable condition. On their return the 
people are assembled, and public proclamation made — " Oh ! 
ho ! ho ! four days hence we go to gather gold." On that 
day the Dato-hdi, dressed in all the vestments of his office, 
proceeds (in the district of Saluki) to the top of the curious 
Peak of Fatunaruk, where a flat stone exists which is supposed 
to be the most sacred altar in the kingdom. Behind him 
follow all the people— men, women and children. The older 
men seat themselves on the ground nearer to the Date, the 
women, children, and younger men keeping at a respectful 
distance. The Dato-fuli, then in front of the great stone, 
invokes the Spirits of their dead, Maromak of the heavens, ami 
Him of the earth. All then return to their homes, where each 
acting as his own "house-priest," kills a fowl or a small pig, 



4G8 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



and offers on the Lull stone in his own house, which he then 
carries to the river to wash the auriferous sand over. It is 
affirmed that every one finds gold on that day — more or less, 
all some. The ritual to be followed by one who is to search for 
the first time differs somewhat from that observed by those who 
have searched before. On his return from the mountain the 
celebrant must enter the TJma-luli, taking with him a fowl or a 
young pig, which, after he has made what appears to be a sort 
of confession to the Dato, is killed and a piece of flesh from , 
its heart and from its jaws is offered to the Luli, the rest 
being partaken of by both of them. The novitiate gold- washer, 
after receiving some sacred siri and pinang, accompanies the 
Dato to the river, where, after another fowl or pig has been 
killed he may collect sand anywhere at random, and " of a 
surety he will find gold in it, for Maromak who alone gives 
the gold will give him fortune." 

After ascending the river bed for three hours, we turned to 
the left up the Fatimaruk Peak, 3400 feet, to the chief of 
Saluki's, where I spent several busy and successful days among 
the vegetation of the deeper ravines. This was the first 
metalliferous district I had visited, and for the first time the 
proportion of the people suffering from goitre was so large as 
to attract notice from the most casual observer. 



IN TIMOR. 469 



CHAPTER IV. 

SOJOURN IN KAILAKUK AND SAMORO. 

I proceed to Patuboi — River Motaai — Crystalline rocks — A weird village — 
Rare additions to my herbarium — Butterflies — Move on to the Rajah of 
Sainoro's — Vegetation by the way — Geological notes — Penalties of theft 
— Samoro — Visit Subale Peak — Botanising under difficulties — Large 
herbarium — Return to Samoro and leave for Manulco. 

From Saluki I proceeded with a fresh cavalcade towards 
Fatuboi, a conspicuous quadruple-crested mountain of remark- 
able configuration, in the Suku of Kailakuk. We had to 
commence with an inevitable descent of more than 1000 feet, 
to the bed of the Motaai, which, like all the Timor rivers 
I had made the acquaintance of, ran in a deep bed within 
precipitous walls, which in some places rose nearly 300 feet 
in height, clothed with unfortunately for me inaccessible 
vegetation. After following its course for four or five hours, 
we turned off to the right, up the bed of a small tributary, in 
which I found blocks of pure white crystalline limestone, a 
kind of rock I had not encountered before. Hence ascend- 
ing a long steep ascent of 1500 feet strewed with disrupted 
blocks of limestone, we reached the top of the mountain, and 
by a narrow rocky stairway winding through a belt of impene- 
trable jungle of thorny shrubs, were guided into the most weird 
spot conceivable for human habitation, into a small plateau on 
the summit of one of the rugged eminences of the mountain. 
Guarded on all sides but one, by vertical walls of limestone, 
the plateau was dotted about with gigantic blocks of rugged 
and warted coral-like limestone, against and between which 
dwellings standing on piles on the bare rock, wen- scattered 
about. To right and left rose immense rough, almost in- 
accessible pinnacles of the same black withered calci 
crass, riven in all directions with cracks, caverned in dark 



470 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



forbidding caves, and traversed by chasms many feet in 
width and to the sight reaching down to unfathomable depths. 
In front of one of these caves an aged fig-tree, adding its 
awesome effect, had dropped its tendrils and wound its roots 
into every crevice in weird and gruesome shapes. The place 
was just such as would overawe the timid and superstitious 
native mind, and I was not surprised to see that there were 
nearly as many Luli houses as dwellings, and that before the 
door of the caves stood a Luli stone on which to propitiate 
the spirits that haunted their gloomy recesses. The whole 
summit of the mountain looked as if it had been shattered 
to its very foundation by some gigantic convulsion of nature. 
The natives told me that earthquakes, which were the result 
of Maromak nodding and letting the world slide off the 
straight for a moment, were frequent and severe. 

Here I made some most curious, interesting, and very rare 
additions to my herbarium ; the most attractive an epidendric 
orchid, and a beautiful species of passion-flower which overran 
with its bright star-like blossoms the spiny vegetation I have 
mentioned ; while the rarest was a curious aroid, Remusatia 
vivipara growing in soilless cracks in the calcareous rocks, 
whose seeds, as its name implies, germinate in their capsules 
before dropping ; and the most annoying a shrub with intensely 
prickly foliage, called by the people there SilatiJc — a plant 
much dreaded by them ; for when my face was stung badly, 
by having come in contact with its leaves, they exhibited 
great concern especially for my eyes, and conducted me away 
from it. I tried by rubbing several succulent leaves on the 
affected part to allay the severe smarting, till a little urchin 
who was following me, after shaking his head in the most 
significant way to say that they were no good, proceeded to 
pound down some of the calcareous rock into a fine powder, 
which he brought to me to rub into the wounds. The applica- 
tion was, if not curative, very cooling, but the pain did not 
subside for a long time. After I had left the place I learned 
that it is the juice from this tree that is applied to the tips of 
their arrows as a poison. Among the few butterflies I obtained 
I netted, with a heart palpitating with pleasure, the lovely 
Geilwsia lamarkii, whose azure wings had tantalised me by flying 
along the front of the inaccessible cliffs of the river bed below. 



IN TIMOR. 471 

The trees on the perpendicular faces of the rocks were 
crowded with the only mammalian animal I had yet seen, 
a lively grey monkey (Macacus cynomohgw), which chattered 
and squeaked most lustily at my intrusion. 

With a few extra porters, necessitated by the considerable 
additions made to my herbarium here, we started north-east 
for the Eajah of Samoro's, in whose territory stood the Peak 
of Sobale, whose summit I wished to visit. The road thither, 
which like all others in this grooved and excavated island 
never betook itself* along a plain, was a hot and weary up-and- 
down trudge through fields thousands of acres in extent, of 
tall grass and canes, sparsely dotted with bamboo clumps, 
with Casuarinas, Acacias, and Eupkorbiaceous trees, which 
simply cumbered a vast extent of what seemed very fertile 
black land. Starting at 2500 feet above the sea, we meandered 
through a shallow hollow up to 2700 feet, thence we followed 
a long winding descent — which, though interspersed with 
humps and hollows, might in Timor be called level — to 
1400 feet where we struck the highway of the Fahiletan 
river-bed which brought us 400 feet lower to the residence 
of his Majesty of Samoro, whose son received us. The river 
banks were wooded with Casuarinas, Myrtles, and Gum-trees 
(which had again become abundant), interspersed with dense 
and impenetrable thickets of Bamboo-durie (Schizostachiuni 
clurio), which offered a splendid hold for the beautiful feathery 
Asparagus racemosus and the tendrils of that grand Timor 
lily, the Gloriosa superba, whose curiously coloured corolla, 
half scarlet half orange (entirely changing after fecundation 
to scarlet), overspread its great clumps with a fiery blaze of 
flowers, while that once so rare and highly prized of orchids, 
the Vanda insignis, rejoiced our way with its fragrance. 

The strata cropping out in the river-bed were quite differed 
from any I had noticed elsewhere on my journey. They were 
pale-gray rough crystalline sandstones in beds half a foot 
thick, alternating with black bands of about the same thick- 
ness of what had been once fine mud, whose lower surfaces 
exhibited radiating annelid-like fossil impressions. These 
stratified rocks, which dipped into the river at a high angle, 
were in many places clearly seen to be entirely embedded 
after they had begun to "be attacked by some rodiDg 



472 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



cr denuding agency, in the horizontally laid-down black 
shingly detritus which I have already so often referred to, 
plainly indicating that at some epoch not geologically very 
remote, they had been long submerged, as the whole of Eastern 
Timor seems to have been, below an arm of the sea, or pos- 
sibly beneath an inland lake ; and after some hundreds of 
feet had accumulated on them they were again subjected to 




elevation — which has gone on so long, and may still be pro- 
gressing — that the rivers have cut their way down through 
hundreds of feet in height, and cleared out ravines a thousand 
or two of feet in width. Such is the story of the strange 
vicissitudes of Eastern Timor revealed by the buried rocks in 
the valley of the Fahiletan. 

At the entrance to the Eajah's compound I was startled by 
suddenly coming on a tall pole with a fringed triangle near 



IN TIMOR. 473 



its summit, the pole, as I thought at first sight, impaling a 
human body, and the outer corners of the triangle transfix- 
ing each a human head. These were happily only made-up 
representations of what at no far-back date would have been 
realities. This ghastly sign-post, called a hero, had been erected 
as a warning to all thieves and offenders of the dire punish- 
ment that would be mercilessly meted out to them, just as it 
had been (or would have been but for the intervention of 
European law over-riding their own) to the three whose cranial 
effigies were exposed on the kero, who had been convicted of 
stealing fruit, as the bunch of cocoa- and pinang-nuts hung on 
a railing below them indicated. 

The law of the different kingdoms is a lexnon scripta, and has 
been handed down from generation to generation. The Leorei 
is judge as well as king, but acts only, however, on the rare 
occasions when a case is brought before him on complaint, his 
judgment being for the litigants always a costly boon. Every 
man or his family exacts justice by his own individual arm on 
the person or his family by whom he has been wronged. If 
the wrong-doer has goods or chattels on which a fine may be 
levied, the wronged as a rule exacts a fine in expiation. 
Homicide is revenged by death, but this penalty can be 
averted by the payment of the equivalent in money or goods 
demanded by the relatives, and the substitution of some one of 
the offender's family to take the place of the slain. A robber 
taken in the act used to be executed on the spot— and is even 
now when the avenger is likely to escape punishment by the 
European authorities, who have rightly interfered with the 
old savage administration of justice in the rajahships— and it 
the theft consisted of a living animal the head of the animal 
was struck off and affixed near that of the robber on a stake. 

Every crime, however small, could be avenged by death. 
but if the offender were sufficiently rich, they could all be 
expiated by a fine except two: adultery with any of the 
rajah's family, and the being a Swangi or sorcerer, for which 
the punishment— or perhaps it ought to be called cure— was 
impalement with all his family, and confiscation of their goods 
for the benefit of the accuser and of the lord of the soil. 

Law and justice are to be seen in Timor, at the present day, 
emero-ino- from the rudimentary stage. Hitherto eacl native 



47-i A NATIONALIST'S WANDERINGS 



has exercised " the right which formed the main check upon 
lawless outrage, the right of private war. Justice had to 
spring from each man's personal action, and every freeman was 
his own avenger. The bloodwite, or compensation in money 
for personal wrong, was the first effort of the tribe as a whole 
to regulate private revenge." * 

As the taking of life is strictly forbidden by the Portuguese, 
and punished with the utmost severity when proof can be 
obtained, causes before the Kajah are becoming more frequent 
in order to obtain the fines which the wronged claims from the 
wrong-doer for his offence, which in former times, if not paid, 
would have been atoned for by his head. 

After a day or two's botanising at Samoro, accompanied by 
the king's son, I started on the 30th of April on a sure-footed 
little pony I had purchased from the Eajah of Bibicucu,for the 
top of Mount Sobale, travelling in a direction N. 21° W., up a 
more gradual slope than usual to 2600 feet, whence we looked 
down into the valley of the Buarahu. Here some of the 
wildest and grandest scenery of our whole journey met my 
view. It is impossible to describe the castellated crags and 
lines of perpendicular and inaccessible cliffs that reared their 
giant masses sheer above the landscape, or the irregular 
blocks that thrust themselves through the grassy slopes, as if 
they had been dropped about without any relation to the 
geology of the region. Meantime they remain in undisturbed 
keeping for the tourist of the future in quest of striking and 
impressive scenery. 

Turning to the left, we followed a path on another of these 
inevitable razor-edge ridges, only the width of the path broad, 
up which our ponies carried us with scarcely a rest to an 
elevation of 4000 feet above the sea — a brave feat of climbing 
which well earned for them the hour's relaxation at Manulu, 
where we rested before setting our faces towards the steeper 
shoulder of Sobale. This farther ride took us round the head 
of the valley of the Buarahu by an eerie and dangerous path, 
dilapidated and often landslipped, in which at many points a 
single stumble of our ponies would have left nothing between 
us and a fall of 2000 feet into the river bed. At 5000 feet, 
where we reached a safe road on the mass of the mountain 
* Green's ' History of the English People.' 



IN TIMOR. 475 

itself, I could freely turn my attention to the thousands of 
violets, geraniums and labiates that decked the ground, and 
the profusion of ferns that loaded the banks and the trees, 
among which I observed, in the forest that covered the upper 
2000 feet of the peak, abundance of Pandans, Casuarinas, and 
other Pines. To my infinite disgust and disappointment, I 
overheard the Rajah's son tell my interpreter to warn me 
that all the forest was rigidly Lull, boding ill for my next 
days prospects. By dropping behind, however, out of sight, 
I that night made sure of all that I could possibly carry, 
and followed quietly through little belts of vegetation of the 
greatest interest to Funuruan, the little house-cluster on a 
lower spur of the mountain where we had arranged to camp. 

I retired to rest with a well-laid plan of rising early and 
slipping off to the mountain without being seen or followed. 
There was little inducement to lie late, for my couch was un- 
comfortable and the night-wind cold ; I was therefore easily 
ready for the field before daylight. After a hasty breakfast I 
stepped quietly away for Sobale attended by my Hindoo cor- 
poral', and thought I had succeeded in escaping unperceived, 
especially as a dense mist enshrouded the mountain. Alas ! 
we had not gone far when I discovered that quite a little 
crowd, following the Dato of the place, was on our trail. 
There was no time to be lost, so I hewed away right and left 
on the slopes below the summit, building up a high pile on 
the ground of the most delightful specimens. 

The unwonted operations of a white man, the first who had 
probably ever ascended their mountain, kept them for a while 
at a little distance watching my operations in silence. My 
hopes began to rise that perhaps I was mistaken in what I had 
overheard the day before. It was a vain delusion; for their 
low murmured reproaches at last found distinct utterance in 
complaint and remonstrance. The corporal was besought to 
restrain me, and save myself as well as them from the retribu- 
tion of sickness and death that certainly would follow on the 
violation of the sacred precincts. I told my Dilly interpreter 
to express my deep regret, and that I would at once desist; 
but I gave him to understand that he was not to bring me any 
more of their messages nor heed me in whatever I did. Moving 
off to some distance higher up, I recommenced on a new 



476 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



clump, which perhaps might not be Luli, and, like a drowning 
man catching at his last opportunity, I gathered with a will, 
unhindered for a long time ; and it was not till I had another 
o-reat pile heaped up on the ground that their excitement and 
superstitious fears became too marked to be longer disregarded. 
Luckily, the thick mist which had been resting on the moun- 
tain-tops all the morning came down in a heavy shower of rain, 
and gave me a good excuse to return to quarters, with my 
trophies a five-men's load, without appearing to have recog- 
nised that I had been offending. It was useless to attempt to 
force an ascent to the top ; there would have been an outbreak, 
for the crest of the mountain was evidently one of their most 
sacred spots. What I had already done excited them greatly. 

The rain that fell cleared off with it the mist, and revealed 
from our high vantage-ground a magnificent view of the 
country, both to the south and to the north — especially to the 
north, as far as the islands of Kambing, Wetter and Allor,— 
w 7 hich was of itself worth the long climb from Samoro's guarda. 

The careful arranging and packing of each species in 
separate bundles of cool banana-leaves, convenient for the 
seven or eight porters to transport, took a long time, so that it 
was late in the afternoon when we mounted for our return 
journey. If our ascent in broad daylight round the face of the 
Buarahu valley Avas eerie, it was foolhardy when, by the time 
we retraced our steps, it was so dark that we could not see a 
single foot of the way. I threw my horse's reins on its neck 
and trusted to my general good-fortune; and it was really 
with no affected thankfulness that I embraced the neck of my 
sure-footed black steed, when I leaped down safely on the 
little flat plateau of Manulu homestead. Here after a deal of 
boisterous shouting to the inhabitants to awake — they seemed 
to sleep with the soundness of the dead — on the part of the 
Eajah's son, in whose harangue the most intelligible word to 
me was the vigorous use of Diabo, an old man the only male 
in the place, made his appearance. Finding the quality of 
his guests, he was at once all alacrity as far as it was possible 
for a Timorese to be, and proceeded to rouse the womankind to 
prepare for us something to eat, and a place to pass the night 
in. A kid and some Indian corn supplied the first, and for 
sleeping- quarters we were actually installed in a Luli hut, 



IN TIMOR 477 



from which, however, the sacred weapons were most carefully 
removed and at the owner's earnest request all our tobacco 
was excluded. Notwithstanding my sore disappointment that 
I had not set foot on the highest peak of Sobale, I slept with 
my head on my saddle the sleep of the contented, for I had 
gathered rare plants enough to delight any botanist's heart. 

At five o'clock in the evening of the next day I reached our 
old quarters, but it was the early morning hours before all the 
plants were, under torch- and lamp-light, safely put away in 
botanical paper and placed over the fire of the drying-house, 
in attending to which and turning the bundles several men 
were employed all through the night. Before eleven o'clock 
in- the forenoon they were dry enough to carry safely to 
Manuleo, my next station, where they would be again placed 
over the camp fire. 

Retracing our steps, as if to Sobale, we descended to the 
right into and across the Buarahu river, ascending to Manuleo 
— 4000 feet above the sea — through a rich grassy landscape 
in which thousands of sheep ought to have been pasturing, 
were a shepherd's not too peaceful a calling to be attracted to 
a region where keros might be a possible feature of their 
fields. Such a warning pole raised its ghastly arms against 
the sky before us. It was surmounted this time with the 
veritable head of a thief caught in the act of abducting a 
horse, whose skull seemed to mock with its grinning line 
of teeth, its abductor's, to which it was joined by the halter 
which in former time encircled its neck. It does seem a sin- 
gular custom for the owner to sacrifice his stolen horse the 
moment it is recovered, to add to his retribution of the thief. 
A horse once stolen is gone for good, it would seem. 
32 



478 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



CHAPTEE Y. 

RETURN TO EUROPE. 

Bad news from Dilly — Start thither — Camp in the open — Bees — Laclo river — 
Rajah's of Laicor — The Queen of Laclo — A hot ride — Geological note — ■ 
Matu — Metinaru — Salt marshes — A long night-ride — Return to Dilly 
Palace — Extract from A.'s journal — Return to Fatunaba — Fevers — Decide 
to return to Europe — Surprised by the arrival of steamer — Regretful 
departure from Fatunaba — Revisit Banda and Amboina — Menado — A 
lucky accident — Batavia — Krakatoa — Home. 

Next morning, just as we had set out, we were hailed from a 
neighbouring height by a man whom I made out to be in 
military uniform. On coming up, he informed me that he had 
been trying to overtake us for many days, and delivered to me 
letters from the Government Secretary (Senhor Bento da 
Franca) to say that Mrs. Forbes was very ill, and urging my 
immediate return to the Palace whither she had been con- 
veyed from Fatunaba. As the route I was following was the 
nearest, I could gain time only by making forced marches. 
Descending by an undulating route to the Vebirah river, we 
reached the first level ground traversed in our journey — a 
plateau clothed with gum-trees parallel to and sloping gently 
with the course of the river, and about one hundred feet above its 
channel. In being entirely composed of a perfectly horizontal 
mass of sand and small pebbles, embedding strata of crystalline 
sandstone which protruded through it at a high angle, its 
geological features were identical with what I have described 
as seen in the Samoro and other rivers I had crossed. 

A little before sunset, after a march of ten hours broken by 
a halt of only thirty minutes, we camped on a grassy spot on 
the bank, in little extemporised grass huts. During the brief 
twilight after the sun had disappeared, the air for some twenty 
minutes was suddenly filled with the hum of bees (Apis dorsata), 
as if a swarm had alighted among the flowers of the Gum- 



IN TIMOR. 479 

trees. Just before daybreak while it is still dusk, the morn- 
ing air is iua similar maimer inundated with their noisy hum. 
This singular habit of these bees, in feeding in the sunless 
hours of the morning and evening, I was totally unaware 
of till I came to live at Fatunaba, where close to our door 
a grove of these trees grew. In the evenings the Melaleuca 
certainly becomes more fragrant than it is at midday; but I 
could not ascertain, what would be very interesting to know, if 
its flowers exude their nectar, or shed their pollen more freely 
late in the evening and early in the morning, 

After a comfortable enough night, which favoured us by not 
raining, we resumed our march before dawn. I was anxious 
to start sooner, but my carriers refused to travel in the night 
till "the three rajahs in pursuit of the seven maidens" had 
set, and Rai-naromak (Venus) had risen some twenty degrees 
above the horizon. Following the Vebirak we reached the bed 
of the Sumasse, a river many hundred yards broad, running be- 
tween vertical walls of shingly detritus some two hundred feet 
high. Its channel gradually widened out into a broad shingly 
expanse full of Tamarind trees, Acacias, Palms, and Cactus, 
till it finally merged in that of the river Laclo (which I had 
crossed far up at Sauo on the outward journey), over whose 
broad tree-dotted estuarine plain, their united streams having 
outrun their high shingly barriers, distributed their water in 
rivulets, which near the headland of Illimanu debouched into 
the sea at no great distance below where we turned our faces 
back westward to ascend again the valley of the Laclo. 

A little distance up the river's left bank we came to the Rajah 
of Laicor's, whose people were housed in the most miserable 
dwellings we had seen — in low huts on the ground of a mere 
thatched stockade of palm-leaf stems, with a platform or two 
against the walls within to sleep on. The Rajah, an opium- 
besotted individual, refused to help me with a change of 
horses and men, but I compelled him much against his will, 
to supply our whole company with the breakfast— of pig-flesh, 
rice, Indian corn, and fresh-drawn palm-wine— which we were so 
much in need of, it being then nearly ten o'clock, and none of 
us had eaten since the previous evening. The headquarl 
the Rajah of Laclo were fortunately quite near on thi other 
side of the river, and thither we proceeded, and fur i first 



480 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

time found some signs of state and of a more advanced civili- 
sation. I found here a large Catholic church, which on all 
religious days, I was told, was very well attended. The entire 
population of the kingdom professed Christianity ; and the 
outward indications of general advancement over their neigh- 
bours was apparent ; but I cannot say that in individual cha- 
racteristics I observed much improvement. The missionaries 
of the Eoman Catholic, perhaps more than those of any other, 
Church deserve the highest praise for their great self-abnega- 
tion and for their persistence in seeking out the most dis- 
couraging spots of the globe, where their simple life and 
fraternal interest in the concerns of the native, have exercised 
a powerful civilising effect. 

The present ruler being a female, all business was trans- 
acted on her behalf at the palace-guarda, a strong, neat, 
wooden building near the royal enclosure, in which a high 
official was always in attendance in command of an armed 
guard to keep watch over the regalia and treasure stored there, 
as well as over the prisoners confined in an adjoining build- 
ing. These miserable creatures, however, had little chance 
of escaping from the rough hurdles on which they were con- 
demned to lie, with their feet fast in the stocks, and their 
necks through a hole in a great log of wood too heavy to be 
easily moved. Many of them had several months of their 
punishment still to work off, but for what crimes they were 
suffering I could not discover. 

On my arrival, I immediately sent my letters to "Her 
Majesty,'' requesting to be furnished at once with fresh horses 
and a guide, to continue my journey to Dilly, which she 
courteously promised should be ready for me at daybreak. It 
would have been too literal an interpretation of her promise 
to have expected to get away at that hour. At ten o'clock, 
however, the horse and guide arrived, and I started at once, 
leaving my impedimenta to follow behind, in charge as usual 
of an official of her kingdom and of my faithful and intel- 
ligent companions, the Hindu officer and corporal, without 
whom as representing the Government, my journey into the 
interior would have been an absolute impossibility. 

The broad channel, first of the Laclo river and then of its 
tributary the Liguani, formed a magnificent highway, along 



IN TIMOR. 481 

which I passed westward at a steady pace, under a thermometer 
marking 11CT in the sun and 92° in the shade, between low 
undulating hills clothed with a shrubbery of Zizyphus Ju- 
juba, and entirely composed of horizontal beds of shingly 
detritus, till at four o'clock I struck off to the right up an 
abrupt rise of 1500 feet by a path studded with crystalline 
calcareous rocks and boulders with a flinty clink, rounded 
by attrition and perforated with holes and crevices like coral 
blocks, bored by mollusca and sponges, which had been raised 
up out of the sea. Strange to say, on the descent of the 
northern slope, not a single calcareous block or stone was to 
be seen anywhere. 

As Ave commenced this descent, which was quite steep and 
precipitous, in the fair way of the path we came on a little 
mound which they called Matu, round both sides of which the 
road diverged. Each native with me gathered some leaves or 
a twig from a tree and laid it on the mound, " to ensure a 
safe descent." On the trees near by were hung up various 
articles— cigarettes, cois, little cigarette cases, and leaves in 
which rice had been carried, and stumps of Indian corn heads. 
I have recorded above almost the same custom in Sumatra, 
where, on a large block of stone by the side of a forest path 
something was offered by every passer-by for " luck." A 
parallel* exists at this day in Dauphine, where every passer- 
by throws into a certain chasm a little stone as an offering 
to the mountain spirit ; and I believe the custom is not 
unknown in our own country. 

Reaching Metinaru long after sunset I halted to rest 
my horse, for the first time since starting. Resuming the 
march after two hours, I pushed on westward along the sen- 
shore, through a long stretch of salt-marshes, which in the 
starlight looked like snow-fields. Near Hera the flat shore- 
lands are barred by the spurs of the hills which run out into 
the sea thereto form that high headland; and, looking back on 
that dark night's ride, it seems marvellous how we surmounted 
without accident their rocky spurs, where the path was 
often interrupted by perpendicular steps many feet in height, 
down which, followed by my horse, I scrambled, nunc by 
the sense of touch than by that of sight. At daybreak I 

* Waitz, 'Anthropology.'p. 321. 



482 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



gained the last height, looking down on Dilly and the familiar 
island-dotted scene, and reached the Palace at eight o'clock, 
where I was thankful to find A. amid our kind friends much 
recovered, but showing in her emaciated figure how severe her 
sufferings had been. When the trying strain she was exposed 
to and her terrible position and privations are realised, it is 
surprising not that she at last broke down, but that she bore 
up so long and so bravely. From her journal, which she had 
struggled to keep, I have extracted a few entries, commencing 
some days after my departure. 

" How exceedingly still it is ! Birds now come and perch 
on the very rail of the verandah — lovely little things which we 
could get only a glimpse of before ; and in the near vicinity 
the Gamut-bird practises its notes, to whose clear crescendo I 
listen with rapt attention. Towards evening I look, eagerly 
even, for my little woman. The first time I saw her she was 
sitting under the sloping roof of her hut, devouring an unripe 
mango, and I stayed to look twice to be sure that she was 
really human. And this is my sole companion, for whose 
return I long ! I am trying to pick up from her some words 
of her language ; in exchange I was going to teach her 
civilised ways. Feeling too weak to brush my hair, and 
thinking it would be delightful to have again that little 
attention, I showed her how I wished it done — by quick, firm 
strokes. She nodded assent, and took the brush ; but, alas for 
my hopes — she vigorously imitated my action — with the back 
of the brush ! " 

[Other visitors than birds came about her dwelling for] 
" A wild-looking man from the mountains came past, and, 
evidently struck by the novel-looking hut, with its appurte- 
nances of civilisation and its white inhabitant, he stayed to 
satisfy his curiosity, and, after going round to look at every- 
thing, he lay down on the verandah to stare at me " ; [and] "last 
evening at sundown my quiet was disturbed by the advent of 
a number of mountain men, who, after coolly monopolising my 
fireplace to roast their supper of maize at, spread themselves to 
sleep on my verandah. It was gorgeous moonlight ; and, as I 
was very wakeful and restless, I rose to look at the group in 
deep sleep around me. What a very strange experience for an 
unprotected woman, in a doorless hut, on a lonely hillside, thus 



IN TIMOB. 483 

surrounded by a number of semi-savages ! I have been trying 
to occupy myself constantly to divert me from the Loneliness 
of my situation, but I am often helpless from fever." 

"My nights quite sleepless, I lie and listen for the return 
of the thieves " [who had entered and robbed the house, and had 
a second time in the middle of the night returned, decamp- 
ing, however, on A.'s calling out, and who, had she dared to 
oppose them, would not have scrupled to put it beyond her 
power to turn informant. When writing to me in the interior, 
with rare self-denial she restrained from telling me the state 
of affairs at FatunabaJ, "and am consequently daily more and 
more attacked with fever ; but I must make an effort to see to 
the fire in the drying-house, where the herbarium arriving from 
the interior is deposited." [After a considerable break :] " Long 
bout of fever : unable to do more than sit on the verandah ; 
the silence is most oppressive ; my old woman is getting tired 
of her duty, and forgets to come to me. I dare not express 
displeasure when she does come, lest she desert me utterly. 
I carefully concealed from H. all mention of my loneliness and 
of the old woman's defalcations, as it is of the greatest import- 
ance that his mind should be free from anxiety on my account ; 
but perhaps it had been wiser to tell him ; for I feel very ill, 
and it is only the thought that these rare plants must be tended 
that keeps me on foot." 

[After another long break :] " At the point where my journal 
is discontinued I quite succumbed to what was as much 
nervous as malarial fever ; day after day attacks came on with 
increasing force, while my powers to help myself became 
decreased. The old woman at last would not come near me ; 
by signs and much talking she indicated that she would be 
tabooed by her own people if she stayed by a sick person." 
[She doubtless feared that she might be thought a Swangi or 
Disease-producer.] " I had then to fall back entirely on myself, 
as she would not carry any message for me to Dilly. Fortu- 
nately there was a store of water in our large stone tank, and 
my small paraffin-stove was full of oil. In a stronger hour 1 
dragged some boxes in front of my bed, and placed within reach 
rice,°salt and some vessels. Eggs in abundance must have 
been within a few hundred yards of me in nests among the 
erass, to which I had traced our few fowls, but I dared tot ven- 



484 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



ture so far in the morning — the only time I had a little strength 
— in the very high winds that prevailed. It is one phase of 
these fevers that when an attack has passed a great faintness 
comes on, which even a mouthful of food or drink will relieve. 
I never fully realised the boon of sick-room attentions till I had 
to rouse myself at these faint moments to cook the only available 
food I could take — rice-water. But the oil in my small lamp at 
last was done, and I was unable to go to the store to refill it. 
For some days I must have been delirious ; during the nights I 
tossed in my sweat-soaked garments, sometimes able to reach 
out for dry ones, sometimes not ; but, more than from all the 
discomfort and weakness, I suffered from the terrible stillness. 
Undisturbed, the rats played in wild riot through my hut during 
the day, and in the night gnawed everything gnawable — some- 
times they even attempted to penetrate inside my mosquito 
curtains, within which I had dragged my store of rice. So 
ferocious were they that I saw them seize a parrot on a tree 
which overshadowed the hut, which they brought to the 
verandah and devoured there, while the feathers scattered in 
the wind. I shuddered to think how H. would find me if I 
should die before he returned or help should come. A passing 
lad — whom I sighted through the bamboo slits of the hut — I 
called to me, bribing him by coin after coin to carry a note to 
the Palace begging for medicine and aid. Just as he at last 
consented, after much dubitation, and the most urgent 
entreaty on my part, it began to rain [rain is always abhorred 
by the natives], which made him hesitate in his purpose — a 
terrible moment for me ; but, espying my open parasol in a 
corner, he seized it and marched off. I don't know whether my 
hilarity in my utter prostration was more at the ludicrous figure 
he cut, his only wettable garment being his loin-cloth, or in 
hysterical and delighted anticipation of obtaining help at last.". 
As good fortune would have it, this lad met a messenger 
from Madame da Franca, who had become anxious at A.'s long 
silence, on his way to inquire for her. The news of her state 
brought at once the doctor and a friend who instantly re- 
turned for an ambulance. Though the afternoon was far gone 
before it arrived the descent was at once begun. The carriers 
struggled on while daylight lasted — one short hour; then, 
owing to the steepness of the road and the darkness of the 



IN TIMOR. 485 

night, they refused to carry longer, when she had to walk. 
After a terrible journey of five hours duration she reached 
the sympathy and comforts of the Palace— kindnesses which 
will be treasured by us both as long as we live. 

We returned at once to our home at Fatunaba, whose beauty 
was as fresh to us as ever, and it was impossible not to feel that 
there could be no fairer spot for a dwelling. I had sufficient to 
occupy me for several days in arranging the herbarium already 
in the drying-house, and when three days later, the giant pack- 
ages collected between Saluki and Laclo arrived I had work for 

several weeks. We had not loni? settled when A was again 

laid down with a most violent type of fever which then seemed 
to be specially epidemic in Dilly, and to which one of the 
Governor's sons succumbed in a sudden paroxysm. As these 
attacks, notwithstanding all the remedies tried, daily became 
more severe, we decided that as I had accomplished all that was 
possible in Timor, and as nothing in the way of fitting out for 
my next journey to the high mountains of South-Eastern New 
Guinea could be done in Dilly, our wisest course was to return 
to Europe by the mail due about the 3rd of June. 

On the 30th of May, on coming out at daylight into the 
verandah, I was thunderstruck to see the mail steaming into 
the harbour — when there was not half of our baggage packed, 
and all the porters to find. Hurrying down to Dilly, T learned 
that there would be no other steamer for five weeks, but that 
The Lansberge would remain till next evening. Through 
Senhor Albino's kind aid I obtained a company of men in 
charge of a sergeant, and, hastening back to Fatunaba, packed 
up my collections and such articles as we most valued, as it 
was evident that all our belongings could not possibly be 
transported in the short time at our disposal. The Timorese 
carriers and A.'s old ape-like woman— though she did not 
deserve it— were made frantically happy by rewards of house- 
hold gear and paraphernalia, plates, spoons, knives, cooking 
utensils, old meat-tins, and gifts of such trade articles as 
mirrors, beads, and kerchiefs, as had escaped the notice of 

the thieves. 

We were forced to leave behind us the whole rude furnish- 
ings of the house— stoves, lamps, water-tanks, cans oi petro- 
leum, stools, gunpowder and shot, and a consider;! frtore 



486 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS. 



of kanipa, or gin, with filthy spirits of wine in bottles of 
the same shape. We have often pictured to ourselves the 
astonished eyes and the jubilant dance of the first Timorese 
who, passing by, should find the deserted hut, and its Eldorado 
of kanipa and the rest, especially if he commenced with the 
snake-tinctured spirits of wine — all his for the appropriating ! 

By five o'clock in the evening the last porter's load dis- 
appeared round the elbow of the hill ; but we remained behind 
for a little to take a last sorrowful farewell of the sweet spot 
in which we had spent so many days of privation and sickness 
hard enough to bear while they lasted, but which have long- 
been quite forgotten, while the supreme happiness we ex- 
perienced in our work together and the surpassing beauty 
of the scene on which we daily looked, will remain among 
our most treasured reminiscences as long as memory lasts. 
As it was impossible to obtain sufficient porters to carry A. 
the long irksome descent had to be accomplished on foot, 
painfully, but with uncomplaining and resigned cheerfulness, 
for was it not for the last time ? By nine o'clock we stepped 
on board. Owing to the fall of a horse baggage and all, down 
a steep slope, and the breakdown and running away of some 
of the porters, it was only at sundown of next day that the 
last of our baggage was safely shipped. By a happy coinci- 
dence the Governor and his family — fewer by two, and wofully 
altered by sickness — were again our fellow-passengers on their 
way back to Europe. 

In the early morning of the 1st of June we steamed away for 
Batavia via Amboina, and a few hours later our hut on the 
Eatunaba rocks, glinting in the morning sun, disappeared below 
the horizon. After one more day under the nutmeg arbours of 
Banda, and a farewell visit to our friend's Machik in Amboina, 
we reached Menado on the 10th, where we were delayed by 
rough weather. " It's an ill wind that blows nobody good." 
In the gale our steamer dragged her anchor, which had to be 
hauled in, and when it appeared it brought with it three other 

anchors, where, 

" On an island's winding shore, 
There for ages long they lay, 
At the bottom of a bay," 

each more foul than the other, with hydroid Zoophytes, Sponges 



488 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS. 

and Crustacea, which were specially handed over to me and 
carefully bottled. A list of them is given in the Appendix. 

Off the north-west cape of Celebes, we passed between the 
mainland and a broad slice of land, with small trees and stumps 
erect on it, drifting in a north-easterly direction. After 
short calls at Macassar, at Ampanam in Lombock, and at 
Baleling in Bali, we reached Surabaya on the 23rd of the 
month. Here we had with deep regret at last to say good-bye 
to the Da Franca family, to whom we had been indebted for the 
greatest possible official and private kindnesses, as it was 
necessary for us to trans-ship for Batavia, where we arrived five 
days later. 

We had nine days to spare before the arrival from Brisbane 
of the mail for Europe. These were spent in the delicious 
and salubrious air of Buitenzorg, in packing up my bulky 
herbarium, and in the renewing of many old friendships. 

On July 9th we sailed in the British India Company's 
mail steamer Quetta — at last homeward bound. At sundown 
we dropped our pilot at Anjer sleeping peacefully among its 
cocoa-nut palms, and a few hours later passed the blazing crater 
of Krakatoa — scenes well known and familiar to me, of which I 
retain many most pleasing memories ; but it was the last look 
that was ever to be possible to me ; for, ere little more than a 
month had passed, both were doomed to destruction. 

A study of the small maps on the preceding page will con- 
vey some idea of the violence of the eruption, from the changes 
that have resulted in the geography of the spot. 

On the 13th of August the Quetta reached Plymouth, and on 
the 14th we arrived in London, transported in 75 days from 
the make-shifts, discomforts, and rough contrivances of a rude 
hut among half-naked savages, to all the elegances of a great 
London hotel, with its fashionable crowd, a contrast — to me 
certainly — too great to be comfortable or pleasant for some time 
at least. I realised that I was more than half a barbarian, to 
whom the restraints of civilisation had become irksome, and 
who would have rejoiced to have been at once spirited back 
again to his swarthy friends in the Eastern Archipelago. 



APPENDIX TO PAKT VI. 



I. — Names of the Months in Timor, 



(Saluki) Bibi9U<ja. 



Funu 



Fahi 



Nam 



Fotan 



Madauk .. 

Wani 

VJn .. .. 

]\Iadai Mot 
Maclai leak 



Same 



In this month (corresponding 
to about our December) they 
plant the vater, or Indian 
corn, and sow the dry ground 
rice. 

Clear gi ass out from i.mong the 
vater and rice. 

" Great month.'' Indian corn 
is in flower. Heavy rains 
and all rivers flooded. 

The name of the month pro- 
bably a corruption of the 
Malay Potong, the cutting or 
harvest month. In it they ^ 
gather in the ripe Indiau | 
corn, and give a great offer- 
ing to the Ltdi, a sort of 
Harvest Thanksgiving, the 
Indian corn being their staple 
food. 

Harvest dry rice fields. 

Honey and wax harvest. 

Possibly a corruption of Ubi 
or sweet potato, which crop 
in this month is dug up and 
harvested. 

Month of fogs and heavy rains 
from the sta. 

Less rain; little possible to bo 
done these two months. 



Leet ali 



Fahi 



Nam 



Tora 



Madaulc .. 
Want 
Uhi boot . . 

UhiMih .. 
Ldkvhutih 



Same opeiations. 

Same operations. 
Same operations. 

Same operations. 



Same operations. 
Same operations. 
Same operations. 

Same operations. 
Same operations. 



490 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Lakubutik 
boot 

Lahubutik 
kiik 



Led 



(Suluki) Bibicucu. 



Still showery 



Very hot. In this month, after 
great offering to the Luli, 
search is made for gold, and 
continued only during this 
month. 

Hot month. Grass is burned, 
and preparations made for 
planting the Indian corn. 



Samoro. 



Madai 



Funu 



Leet Manu- 
lulc 



Same operations. 
Same operatiods. 

Same operations. 



There are thus twelve months, which they reckon by moons, in their years. 
How many days there are in a moon they did not seem to know, for the number 
was variously give as sixteen to thirty-five 



II. — Dialects spoken in Eastern Timor. 

In the different districts of Timor, different dialects (or (?) languages) are 
found to be spoken. The following is a list of the names of those said to be 
spoken in the region traversed by me, with the districts in which they are 
spoken : — 



Mambia or Kaladi . . 

Tetu (more or less the 
lingua franca of E. 
Timor) 

Idate .. 

Lakale 

Haukenke 
Veke .. 
Vaiqueno 
Galolo 

Marai 

Manobai 

Kemak 

Tocudade 

Dagada 

Macassai 

Naubete 

Meadik 



Turscain ; Motael ; Hermera ; Kaimauk ; Hera ; 

Laicor. 
Barique' ; Bibicucu ; Alias ; Suai ; Hera ; Saluki ; 

Laulubar ; Bailobo ; Cotubaba. 

Cairui; Laclubar; Mantutu; Viqueque. 
Bibicucu; Kimauk ; Vemasse ; Barique; Alias; 

Samoro. 
T.alea; Vemasse; Mantutu ; Fatumarto; Vinilale. 
Bailobo. 
Cova ; Suai. 
Hera ; Laculo ; Motael ; Lalea ; Mantutu ; Luga ; 

Vemasse. 
Manufahi ; Eameau ; Kolule. 
Alias; Samoro; Titulum ; Turscain. 
Badobo; Cora; Sanir ; Cutobab.i ; Kailakuk; At- 

tesabe; Boibau; Diribate; Lameian; Maheibo. 
Boibau ; Liquica ; Maubara. 
Lalea ; Faturo ; Sarau. 
Luga ; Vemasse. 
Luca. 
Faturo ; Luga ; Sarau. 



IN TIMOR. 



491 



III. 



■Vocabulary of three of the above dialects, the Kalaui, the Tetu, 
and the Lakale : — 



K 


aladi. Tetu. 


Lakale. 


accuser 


matenek 




ache 


moras 


banas 


acquaint 


fohatene' 


autada 


add tantanbarak 




advance 


lauluk 




afraid 


kamtauk 


amtauk 


aged 


katuas 


maitu 


all 


hothotu 


tilirlama 


allow 


hohuk 




angry 


hirus 


bisemirus lo: 


animal 


(kudakarau 
(kudawarak 




ankle 


aifuku 




ant 


nehek 


nehek 


arm 


lima 


aulimak 


ashes 


aikesa 


waiahu 


ask 


husu 




assert 


sulung 




attack 


labelle haliatori 




avenge 


Jloronseluk 
^ossi sehere' 




baby 


Havarikj 
\nurak / 


tiukwano 


back 


kotuk 


kotuk 


backbone 


kotuk 




bad 


| istori ) 
Ipegte/ 


istori 


bag 
bamboo 


kohe 




au; fafulu (small 






him boo) 




banana, 


hudi 

i disterra (PoitugO 
ibahu 


i 


banish 






(aikulit (tree) 
\asungeri (dog) 




bark 




bat 


niki 




bathe 


heris 


tiiis 


battle 


hotudar 




beak 


munu 




beard 


hassa rahun 




beat (dium) 

beeswax 

begin 


here 
.'. lilin 

foinhala 




behead 


taulu 




behind 


kotuk 




belly 
beneath 


kabu 
karaik 


akardebom 


bid 


orde (Portug.) 




hie 


boot 


anitiin 


bird 


maiiufoik 


manhui 


birth 


foinmoris 




bite 
black 


tata 
metang 


mclang 


blade 


tudik-ici 




bleat 
blind 


heme' 
mala lahare 


taikre 



492 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 





Kaladi. 


Tetu. 


Lakale. 


blood 




ran 


ran 


blue 


hena metan 


busuk 




boar 


.. 


fahi aman 




boot 




rokik 




body 




ici lolong 




boiling water 




bemanas 




bold 




totor 




bondman 




atta 




bone 


.. 


riu 


rra 


bore 


.. 


halukuak 




bow 




rama 

arrow = rama-ici 




boy 


.. 


lavarik 




bracelet 


.. 


puti lima 




branch (of tree) 


■• 


ailiman 
foswai 
1 Asuwai 




brave 






bread 




morteng 




breast 




hiris matu 


hiris mata 


breathe 




ausuhu 




bridge 




ailetete 




bring 


.0 


hodi 

hodi mai = bring 
here 


oJi ; odi ma (b. here). 


brother 




maluk 




brother-in-law 




ria 




broad 




naruk 


narong 


buffalo 




kaiau 




build 




halu 




burial 




taman mati 




burn 




ahi ha 




butterfly 


,, 


babeba 


kabeba 


button 




faro 




buy 




dosa 




calabash 




ohukunua 




call 




bolu 


atarkau 


carry 




foti taukabas 


talui itabas 


cat 




busa 




catch 




lako 


lakon 


chair 




kadera (Portug.) 




chalk 




ahu 




cheer 




lorsang 


lorsang 


chad 


feto kiik ; older, 
feto boot 






chin 




hassa 


ita hassar 


clay 




tahu 




dark 




raikalan 




cloth 




tais 


lusa 


cloud 




aibabu 




club 




aidona 


padassi teman 


coat 


faru 






cocoa-nut 




nu 




coffin 




aibalu 


aivalu 


cold 




maliri 


muruk 


colour 




metang 




comb 


.. 


satoit 




come 


• • 


mai 


(ai c you coming ? = 
tainte he' ? 


comet 


„ 


kilat lololeting 


loroleting saki 





JN 


TIMOR. 


493 




Kaladi. 


Tctu. 


Lakale. 


to cook 


tcngetu 






cough 




mear 


mear 


country 




niki 


niki 


courage 




maumetang 




cradle 




boi 




cry 




ianis (as a child) 


scro 


curl 




futufriuk 


luokulu 


cut 


to 


fai 


natessi 


dance 




imabidu 


atarlebidu 


dark 




raikalau 




daughter 




hausafeto 




day" 




loron 


lelong 


dead 




mate 


atarmate 


deaf 




telundiuk 


tilarkadiuk 


dear 




foleng toda 


holing kas 


deep 




raikuak 


larakura 


depart 




baona 


tisoi 


desire 


.. 


haukakara 




dew 




mahobe 


mohowek 


difficult 


., 


kole 


kole 


distant 




rook 


lamaroug 


dog 




asu 


asu 


door 




hodomata 




dream 




me hi 


steu mehi 


drink 


hemu 


hemu 


emi 


drown 




motahodi 


loouodi 


drum 




baba 




drunk 




lanu 


atar lauu 


dry 




maranona 


nangbut 


dumb 




pakonteng 


misimirua 


eagle 




makikit 




ear 




telu 


tilar 


earthquake 




rainagtoko 


lamaliklain 


early 




dadelsasang 


busia 


east 




loro s a it 


lelo taibutak 


eclipse 




ahi hafulan 




egg 




mantelu 


mantelor 


elbow 




sikruohan 


itsiur 


empty 




mamuk 


maue 


enough 




toona 


atarmasoi 


equal 




hauessandeh 


hanessansoi 


evening 




lor kraik 




expectorate 




kaubeng 


aberlolok 


eye 




mata 


itu matar 


face 




o'i 




fall 




monu 




far 




rook 


lamarong 


father 




ama 


itamar 


fast 




lalais 




fat 




bokur 


boiir 


fatiguo 




kole 




feather 




manufulu 


manuhulu 


fever 




isimanas 


atur lelongpanas 


finger 




lima fuan 


laman huau ici 


fire 




ahi 




fish 




ikan 


ikan 


flap 




kokoieik 


kokorcik 


flesh 


,, 


naiin 




flower 




aifuan 




tiy 


.. 


lalar 


lalar 



33 



494 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 





Kaladi. 


Tetu. 


Lakale. 


follow 




tuir 


loretuir auiua 


foot 




aitanlan 


iwetanalala 


forehead 




retos 


it retos 


forget 




haluha 


italehaluasoi 


fragrant 




mori 


lalcmori 


friend 


•• 


Jpeluk (kigh)j 
\nai (low) J 


itu pelur 


froth 




kisal 


kisal 


fruit 




aifuan 


aihuak 


frv 




sona 


bena 


full 




nokonu 


penu 


fur 




fulu 


bisilita 


garden 




tos 




ginger 


kinur 






give 




foeng 


hemuri 


goat 




bibi 


bibi 


go away 




ba 


uri; lamo 


gold, coined 




dine 




gold, dust 




murak 




good 




disk 


ia 


grass 


doot 


duiit 


ruiit 


grave 




rate 

airie = polo with 
horns 


rate 


«.reen 


netahau modok 


matak 


matuk 


gun 




kilat 


kilat 


gunpowder 




kilat rahun 


kiJat rahun 


hair 




fu 




hand up 




lolo 




hit 




konno 




hold (fast) 




kair halrosa 




hot 




manas 




house 




urna 




how many? 




heera 




hunger 


hamluhuna 






Indian corn 




batai 




knife 




tab a ; tudik 




large 


bobot 






leads (shot) 




milissa 




leaf; leaves 




katemu; aitaha 




lightning 


railaka 






long 


naruk 




naruk 


mango 




has 




mare 




kuda ina 




mat 


viti 


viti 




me 




hau 




milk 


susu 






mountain 


fofo 






nephew 


., 


tiu 




night 




raikalau 




Pig 


pahi 


fahi 




post (pillar) 


airing 






cross-beams to hold! , 
up roof .. } laras 






gable- posts 


kakuluk 






rain 




udan 




rat 


,, 


mama 




red 




hena 




rice 


.. 


fos 




rice (in husk) 


.. 


hari-mean 









IN TIMOR. 




Kal 


vli. Tetu. 


sea 


tassi 


tassi 


shut 




t.ika 


siri (for chewing) 


mains 


malus 


sleep 


toba 




small 




kiiki 


sneeze 




kiis 


tatoo 




hedik 


thumb 




lima fuan boot 


thunder 




raitarutu 


toe 




aifuan kiiki 


toe, great 




aituau boot 


verandah (floor) 




hadak 


water 




be 


well, aro you? 




sien diak 


west 




loro manu 
/sedan mara 
(sematuk 


wet 




white 




hena mitin 


wood 




ai 






Lakale, 



Tetu. 



Kaladi. 



Lakale. 



Firaku. 



1 


ida 






isa 


u 


2 


rua 






rua 


lolai 


3 


tolu 






telu 


lolitu 


4 


haat 






a'at 


phfir 


5 


lima 






lima 


lima 


G 


ne 






ne 


tahu 


7 


hitu 






hitu 


fitu 


8 


wulu 






walu 


palu 


9 


sia 






sia 


siba 


10 


sanulu 






sakulu 


rutu 


11 


sanulu resin kla 




„ resin isa 




12 




„ rua 








13 
20 


ruanulu 


„ tnlu 


ranulu 


ruanulu 


ruda lolai 


21 


» 


resin ida 








22 




„ i ua 








30 


tolanulu 




tolulu 


.. 


rudu lolitu 


40 


ha'atanul 


i 








30 


limanulu 










60 


neanulu 










70 


hitanulu 










80 


walanulu 










90 


sianulu 










100 


atu si da 






atu sisa 




101 




resin ida 








110 


n 


panulu 








120 


n 


ruanulu 








150 




lunanulu 








000 


rihun ida 









496 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



IV, — On a neiv species of Coleoptera of the family Cetoniim:, from 
E. Timor. Ry Oliver E. Janson, M.E.S. 

Clinteeia forbesi, sp. nov. 

Above dull black with pa^e ochreous-yel!ow spots. Head coarsely 
punctured, slightly shining at the sides, clypeus moderately emarginate 
at the apex, the convex centre and elevated margins pale ochreous. 
Thorax sparsely but rather coarsely punctured ; a sub-quadrate spot at 
the anterior angles, an elongate one on each side behind, and two spots 
on the disk. Elytra depressed, with a sutural and several discal rows 
of indistinct semi-circular punctures; a large triangular patch before 
the middle, a bi-lobed lateral spot, a small elongate one near the suture, 
and a large marginal spot on the apex. Pygiclium with coarse inter- 
rupted transverse striae and a small spot on each side. Under-side and 
legs shining black, punctate, strigose and with sparse brown pubescence; 
cpimera above, sides of sternum and abdomen witli pale ochreous spots ; 
mesosternal process long, obtuse and slightly oblique. Length, 13 mm. 
Timor. 

This elegant species appears to be most nearly allied to C. hageni, Eits. 



V. — A List of the organisms found adhering to three anchors dredged up 
from the Ray of Meriado, Celebes. Ry S. 0. Ridley, M.A., F.L.S., and 
J. J. Quelch, B.Sc, F.Z.S, of the British Museum. 

A. Corals. 

Dendrophyllia, sp. nov. 

Phyllangia papuensis, Stud. Very abundant. For a valuable paper, 
by Mr. S. O. Kidley, On some structures liable to variation, in the 
sub-family Astrangiaceai (Madreporaria), founded on the examina- 
tion of this specimen, see Journal Lin. Soc. vol. xvii. ISSi, p. 359, 
et seqq. ; plates. (H. O. F.) 

B. Sponges. 

Tuba nmricma, Lam. 
Pachychalina sp. 
Euspongia sp. 

0. Pobjzoa — Cheilostomata. 
iEtia anguina, L. 

Microporella ciliata. Pall., var. personata, Rusk 
Lepralia pertusa, Espr. 
Schizoporella paisevalii, And. 
Schizotheca fissa, Busk. 
Smithia landsborovi, Johnst. 
Cellepora larreyi, And. 
sp. indeterm. 
cyclostoraata. 
Crissia holdsworthii. Busk. 
ctenostomata. 
sp. (apparently new,). 

D. Rydrozoa — Hydroida. 
Tubularia iudivisa, L. 

rugosa, D'Orb. 
Aglaophenia philippina, Kirch. 
laxa, All-man. 



IN TIMOR. 497 



VI.— Pbodomus Florae Timorensis ; compiled in the Botanical Department 
of the British Museum. 

The flora of Timor is one of great interest, but only very limited 
herbaria exist of it. In preparing the following sketch of the chief 
collections made in the island I am greatly indebted for assistance to 
Mr. H. N. Ridley. 

In 1689-1700 Dampier visited the islands; the few plants he collected 
there were described by Kay. 

When in 1787, the Bounty, under Captain Bligh, was conveying 
bread-fruit trees from Otaheite to the West Indies, the crew mutinied, 
and tho captain, together with David Nelson, botanist of the expedi- 




plants 
in the British Museum. 

In October 1792, Christopher Smith and James Wiles collected a 
number of plants in Timor, on their way from Otaheite in the ship 
Providence, under Captain Bligh. They took also from Timor and other 
Malayan islands various useful plants to introduce together with the 
bread-fruit trees, into the West Indies. The plants collected in this 
expedition are also in the British Museum. 

In 1803, Biedle, Sautier, and Guichenot, gardeners attached to 
the expedition of the vessels Nuturaliste and Geographe, under Captain 
liaudin, visited the island. The expedition started from France in 
1801, and reached Timor in 1803. The plants were described by Dc 
Caisne in the Nouoelles Annates du Museum d'Histoire Xatwelle, and arc 
preserved in the Herbarium Delessert and in the Paris, British, and Kew 
Museums. 

In April of the same year Robert Brown stopped at the island for a 
short time on his return from the Iter Australiense. He remained in 
the neighbourhood of Coupang, West Timor, and made a collection of 
considerable extent, containing many plants of extreme interest. These, 
together with a manuscript list of their native names, are in the her- 
barium of the British Museum, and a set is also in the Vienna herbarium 
to which they were presented by Ferdinand Bauer, the companion of 
Robert Brown in his travels. 

In the end of 1818, Gaudichaud visited Timor in the voyage of the 
Uranie, and in the ' Voyage de l'Uranie/ chapter viii., gives an account 
of the island and its products. 

In 1818-1819, Captain King visited the island with Allan Cunning- 
ham, who made a small but most interesting collection of plants, which, 
with the manuscript account of his travels, arc preserved in the British 
Museum. 

In 1822, Reinwardt returned to Europe with his collections, which 
are in the Leyden Museum. 

In September 1825, Captain Duperrey in the voyage of the Coquitte 
visited Coupang in West Timor. 

In 1828, Zippel went in the expedition under Dr. Maklot in the Triton 
and Iris, to the islands, and collected a number of plants, which are 
preserved in the Herbarium Delessert, Ban's. 

In 1831, J. B. Spanoghe, the Dutch Resident, made explorations in the 
west of the island, and sent his collections to Holland. The plants were 
published in Hooker's ' Companion to the Botanical Miscellany.' vol. l , 
and ' Linnasa/ vol. xv. 



498 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Early in 1840, DTTrville touched at Coupang in the voyage of the 
Astrolabe, and with Hombron collected some plants. 

In 1843, Captain Sir Everard Home collected a few plants in Timor 
on his way home from China. 

Mr. A. B. Wallace, in his celebrated travels in the Archipelago, 
resided in several parts of Timor, but though devoting himself almost 
exclusively to the zoology of the island, be found time to make a small 
collection of grasses, which are preserved in the Kew Herbarium. 

Mr. J. E. Teysmann devoted a long life to the botanical investigation 
of the islands of both the Indo- and Austro-Malayan regions. In his col- 
lecting tours on behalf of the Botanical Gardens, Buitenzorg, extending 
over a period of nearly half a century, from about 1830-1880, he visited 
Timor on more than one occasion. His herbarium is preserved in the 
Museums of both Leyden and Buitenzorg. 

Mr. J. G. F. Biedel, at one time Dutch Besident in Coupang, West 
Timor, sent to the Botanical Museum in Dresden a collection of plants, of 
which a small number were communicated in 1879 to the Kew Her- 
barium by Dr. Meyer. 

The Author's herbarium, from which the new species enumerated 
below are described, was made in the eastern portion of the island, from 
December 1882 to May 1883. 

The various localities where collections were made, are given here in 
the order in which they were visited. A traverse survey was kept up 
throughout the journey ; but, owing to the extreme inaccuracy in all 
existing available maps of several of the initial points of observation on 
which the r3st of the traverse depends, it has been found impossible to 
lay down my route. Only when a map representing with accuracy the 
various positions of the heights and capes of the neighbouring islands of 
Kambing, Wetter, and Allor, has been made, can my geographical 
observations be utilised. 

1. Fatunaba Hills. — My camp was pitched at an elevation of 1700 
feet on these hills, situated a few miles due south of Dilly, and collec- 
tions made from Dec. 19, 1882, to March 30, 18fc3. Excursions were made 
all round the neighbourhood. 

2. Erlura.— My camp, 30th March, 3475 feet above sea level; a long 
day's march on my way to the interior from Fatunaba, situated with the 
peak of Illimanu Cape bearing N. 64° E. and the peak of Bulo Kambing 
N. 13° W. 

3- Fatete. — Halting-place on the 31st March, on the W. side of the 
wide valley of the Komai. 

4. Ligidoik.— Our halting-place on the 1st April, 3350 ft. on the other 
side of the valley. Bv prismatic compass Fatete bore N. 45° W. ; Cape 
Illimanu N. 44° E. and Kabalaki peak W. 48° S. 

5. Sauo. — Camp of April 2nd, in the valley of the Wai Matang Kai- 
mauk, 3200 ft., Turskain peak bearing S. 18° E. 

6. Turskain.— Camp from April 3rd to 6th, 4000 feet above the sea. 
Situation : Ligidoik bearing N. 24° W. ; Bulo Kambing peak, N. 16° W. ; 
Kabalaki peak, S. 47° W. 

7. Bmir;ucu, Bajah's of.— Camp 3000 feet, from April 6th to 22nd. 
Situation. Kabalaki peak bearing S. 75° W. ; Luca Cape, S. 85° E.; 
Mount Sobale, N. 40° E. 

8. Saluki, in the kingdom of Bibicucu.— 3400 ft. April 22nd to 26th. 
Situation: Kabalaki peak bearing S. 70° W. ; Barique Mount, E. 1° S. 

9. Kailakuk, in the kingdom of Bibicucu— 2100 ft. April 26th to 28th. 
Situation: Kabalaki peak bearing W. '10° S .; Mount Sobale, N. 3° W.; 
Mount Tahaolat, N. 78° W. 



IN TIMOR. 499 



. 10. Samoro.— April 28th to May 3rd. («) Rajah's of, 903 ft. Situation ■ 
Mount Sobale bearing N. 63° W.; Barique Mount. S 62° E (b) Sobale 
Mount, 5000 ft. to 6000 ft. Situation : Cape Illimanu bearing N. 5° 
E.; Mount Barique E. 35° S.; Wetter Island summit N. 11° YV. 

11. Laclo.— A village not far inland from the mouth of the river of the 
same name, near Cape Illimanu. I camped here on the 5th May. 

Note.— The numbers after a plant— for example : 3610, 7— indicate th 
number in my herbarium, 3610, and the station, 7, where the plant was 
found. 



Polypetal^:, by J. Biutten, F.L.S. 

Banunculaceie. 

Clematis Leschenaultiana, DC. 
biternata, DC. 

Magnoliaceae. 

Michelia Champaca. L. 
velutiua, Bl. ? 
Anonaceaz. 

Uvariu timorensis, Bl. 

glabra, Span. 
Mitrephora (?) divcrsifulia. 
Anona niuricata, Dun. 
Artabotrys odoratissinius, Br. 

Menispermacese. 

Stephania hernandifolia, Walp. (S. discolor, Walp.), 3G10, 7 ; 3S15, 10 b. 

Anamirta Cocculus, W. & A. (A. populifolius, Miers) 

Pachygone ovata, Miers. 

Pericampylus incanus, Miers, 3G26, 4015, 7. 

Meirisperiuacen, 4014 (leaves only). 

Cruet/eras. 

Sinapis timoiiana, DC. 3787, 9. 

Capparideae. 

Gvnand.opsis pentaphylla, DC 3773, 3939, 4054, 9. 

Polanisia viscous, DC. 3747, pods adhere to everything and thus get 

transported ; 8. 
Cadaba capparoides, DC. 
Capparis subcordata, Span. 

trapezirlora, Span. 

Mariana, Jacq. 

dealbata, DC. 

pubiflora, DC. 

nigricans. Span. 

sepiaria, L. 

elliptica, Span. 

sp. (bud). 4024. 
Yiolacex. 

Viola Patrinii, DC. 3491, 6. 

lonidiura enneasperraum, Vent. "Timor?" 

Alsodeia rnacrophylla, Den?. 

Bixinex. 

Xylosma fragrans, Dene. 

Pitto&porese. 

Piitosporum timoiensc, Bl 



500 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Fobjgalex. 

Polygala pcrsicariae folia, DC. 3185, 2. 3S87 a. fcpivycen 10 and H. 3044, 6. 
rut'a, Span. 
humilis, Span. 

Caryophyllex. . , 

Drymaria cordati, L. 3910, Q, 

Fortulacex. 

Portulaca quadrifida, L. 

Eladnese. 

Elatinc aramannoides, W. & A: 

Guttiferx- 

Garcinia timorens's, Span. " Mihi ignota," Miq. 
Mesua ferrea, L. 

Malvaceae. 

Malva timoreusis, DC. 
Malvastrum rudcrale, Miq. 

spicatum, A. Or. (K. Brown.) 
Sida cistiflora, Bl. 
javensis, Cav. 
humilis, W. 
. subcordata, Span. 

rhombiiblia, L. 40G7, H. 
paucifolia, DC. 
acuta, L. 3519, 6. 
return, L.j 3665, 7. - - 
Abutilon asiaticum, Don. , 

crispuni, Don. (R. Brown.) 
Guicbenotianuin, Dene. 
timorense, Dene. 
indicum, W. & A. 3886, H, 
graveolens, W. & A. 4016, U, 
Urena multifida, Cav. 36(!9, 7 ; R- Brown, Coupang. 
Malachra liorrida, Miq. 
Pavonia cernua, Miq. 
Thespesia Larnpas, Dalz. 3438, 4010, 1. 

popuJnea, Cav. 
Hibiscus tiliaceus, L. 3617, 7. 
Eosa-sinensis, L. 
timorensis. DC. 
virgatus, Bl. 
tubulosus, Cav. 
Sabdariffa, L. 
vitifolius, L. 

surattensis. L. 3817, 10 b. 
pnngeus, Boxb. 3628,7. 3858 and 3S79, ]0 b. 
radiatus, Cav. (fol. integr.) 3780, 9. 3879, in part, 10 b. 
ficulneus, L. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 

Sterculiacex. 

Helicferes Isorn, L. 3426, 1, Flanks of bills, 1900 ft. clayey soil. 3799. 9. 

Rterculia urceolata, Sm. " Timor?" 

Abroma fastuosa, Br. 

Buettneria flaccida, Span. 

Melocbia acutangula, Span. " Stirps dubia.' 

Riedleia tilirefolia, DC. 

corchorifolia, DC. 
Melhania incana, W. & A. 



IN TIMOR. 501 



Tiliacem. 

Corchorus acutangulus, Lam. 

olitoriurf, L. 
Triumfetta rotundifolia. Lam. 

graveolens, Bl. v>705, 3908, 7. 
angulata, Lam. 

pseudo-angulata, Bl. " Timor ? " 
sp. 3576, 6. 
rhomboidca, Jacq. 4090. 
Grewia tomentosa, Juss. " Timor ? " 

multiflora, Juss. 3727, 8. 3932, g 
insequalis, Bl. " Timor V " 
columnnris, Sm. 3782, 9. 
• E'.flBocarpus csaneus, Linn. 

parvifloras, Span. 

sp. (cf. E. rivularis, Vieill). 3G77, 7. 

Rvssoptery*', sp. 3647, 7. 

sp. 408G, 375S, 8. 

micro8tem;t, Juss. " Timor ? ' 

timorensis, i?/. 
Hiptago Madablota, Gaertu. 3917, 7. 

Tribulus terrcstiis, L., var. molncc.inus. Bl. 
Geraniacem. 

Impatiens Balsamina, L. 

hirsuta. Steud. (Span.) 

minutiflora, Miq. „ 

sp. nov. Kew Kerb. 

platypetala, Lindl. 3503, 3922, between 5 and Q, 
Geranium atfine, W. & A. 3818, 10 b. 3500, between 3 and 4. 
Averrhoa Carambola, L. 

Bilimbi, L. (R. Brown.) 
Oxalis corniculata, L. 3^88,1. 3507,6. 4027, 3958 a, 7. 

Butacex. 

Zanthoxylon alatum, Boxb., var. exstipulata. 3653, 7. Z. timoriense, 

Span. 
Evodia lotifolia, DC. 3620, 7. 3S51, 10 a. 

sp. n.? 3870,10 b. 
Micromelum pubescens. Bl. ?612, 7. 3697. 7. 
Tiiphasia monopliylla, DC 

trifbliata, DC. 
Glycoi-mis pentapliylla, Colebr. 
Murraya exotica, L. 

heptaphylla, Span. 
Cookia punctata, Beiz. 
Claiuena exenvata, Burm. 

(?) timorensis, Boem. 
Citrus Limetta, Bisso. 
Simarubese. 

Harrisonia Brownii, ^4. Juss. 
Biucea glabratu, Dene. 
OehnacesR. 

Gompbia mngnoliae folia, Span, i u Adhuc incognita;," Miq. 
Castela laevigata, Zipp. S 

Burseracex. 

Canarium microenrpum, W. 
Garuga rloribunrla, Dene. 



502 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



tfeliaceas. 

Melia Candollei, Juss. 
Turrsea pionata Span. 
Amoora timorensis, W. & A. 
Epicharis speciosa, Juss. 

(V) sttosa, Span. 
Xylocarpus granatum, Keen. 

Olacinex. 

Cansjera timorensis, Dene. 

Celastrinese. 

Oelastrus stylosa, Wall. 3829, 10 b. 
Enonyraous javanieus, Bl. B. timorensis. 
Elseodendron ellipiticum, Dene. 
Salacia patens, Dene. 3804, 4075, 10 b. 
Hippocratea pauciflora, DC. 

V cassinoides, DC. 

rigida, Span. 

Rhamnese. 

Zizyphus celtidifolius, DC. 
timoriensis, DC. 
Jujuba, Lam. 4013, 4020, H. 
Berchemia pubiflora, Miq. 

B.?sp. 3819, 3855,10 b 
Colubrina asiatica, Br. 
Gouania leptostachya, DC. ? 3684, 7. 

Ampelideee. 

Vitis indica, L. " Timor " ? 

cordata, Wall. (Renth.). 3753 bis, 8. 
adnata, Wall. 3459, 1. 
discolor, Dalz. 3592, 7. 
(Cissus timoriensis, DC) 
( „ laevigata, Bl.) 
( „ aeuleata, Span.) 
( „ coriacea, DC.) 
( „ arachnoidea, ITassli.) 
(cf. Cissus irutabilis, Bl. ex descr.) 4043, 10 b 
(cf. V. tomentosa, Heyne.) 3450, 3467, 1, 
sp. 3739, 8. 
sp. 3G44, 7. 
Leca rubra, Bl. 3439, 1, 3895, 3896. 
sp. 4082. 
sequata, L. 
sp. 3G22, 7. 
sp. 36G2, 7. 

Sapindaeem. 

Pometia tomentosa, Kurz. B. cuspidata, Bl. 

Scorododendron pallens, Bl. (Erioglossum alliaccum, Span.) 

Cupania mutabilis, Miq. 

Ratonia sp. 3779, 9. 

Spanoghea ferruginea, Bl. 

Harpulia cufanioides, Boxb. 

Schleicliera trijuga, Jv. 400G, 1, 

Erioglossum edule, Bl. 8. fraxinifolium. 

Allophylus Cobbe, Bl. 3048, 7. 

Cardiosperinum Halicacalum, L. 36S2, 4087, 7. 

Atalaya salicifolia, Bl. 

Bodonaja angusti folia, Bl. 



IN TIMOR. 503 



Anacardiacex. 

Semecarpus longifnlia, Bl. 
Buchanania longifolla, Span. 
Mangifera timorensis, Bl. 

indica, L. 
Spond'as lutea, L. 



Connaracese. 

Connarus Spanoghei, Bl. 

I.eguminosse. 

Tephros'a timoriensis, DC. 

rigida, Span. 
Indigofera cordifolia, Heijn. (Wiles and Smith.) 

linifolia, Beiz. 3513, between 5 and 6 ', on rocky spots, aseculinj 

to Kaimauk, 3500 ft. 
viscosa, Lam. 

trifoliata, L., var. tirai rensis. 
Psoralea slipulacea, Dene. 

Gaudichaudiana, Bene. 
Crotalaria calycina, Schrank. 38S7, between 10 and H. 
verrucosa, L. 3578. 
prostiata, Boxb. 
jnncea, L. 
laburnil'oliii, L. 

medicaginea, L. 3153,4112,1. 
Sesbani.i giandiflora. 3752, 8. 

ffigyptiaca, Bers. 
iEschynoinene indica, L. 

patula, Bers. 
(?) atro-purpurca, Span. 
Stvlosanthes mucronata, W. 
Smithia ciliata, Boyle. 3512,6. 3903,4083,7. 

sensitiva, L. 
Zornia angustifolia, Sin. 

reticulata, Sm. 0. subglandulosa. 
zeylonensis, Bers. y. gibbosu. 
diphylla, Pers. 3499, 6. 
Des:nodium trirlorum, DC. 4073, 3395 a, 7. 
pulckellum, Bth. 4009. 
timoriense, DC. 
concinnuin, DC. 

latifolium, DC. j8. Telfairii, W. &A. 
eangeticmn, DC. 3790, 9. 
triquetrum, DC. 3421, 3449, 1 ; 345G, 
latifolium, DC. 34*1, 1; 3718, 8. 
polycarpum, DC. 3153 (part) 1. 
Scalpe, DC. H99G. 
sp. 4060,4102. 
Dendrolobium umbellatum, W. & A. 4011, 4023. 

ceplialotes, Bth. 
Uraria lagopoides, Desv. 3452, 1. 
picta, Desv. 
crinita, Desv. 
Pseudarthria viscida, W. & A. 
Lourea vespertiliouis, Desv. 

obcordata, Desv. 
Lespedeza sericea, Miq. 3357, Q. 
Abrus precatorius. L. 
Duuinsia villosa, DC. 3857, 3873, 10 D. 
Mucuna gigantea, DC. 



5Q4 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Canavalia oblusi folia, DC. 
virosa, W. & A. 
gladiata, DC. 
Glycine labialis, L. 
Soja haraata, Miq. " Timor ? ' 
Alysicarpus vaginalis, DC. 

bupleurifolius. DC. 
longifolius, W. & A. 
styracifolius, DC. 
Pliylacium bracteosuni, Bean. 3352, 7. 
Phaseolus lunatus, L. 
Vigna Catiang. 3672, 7. 
lobata, Endl. 

lanceolata, Bentli. 3512,3, 
Dolhhos falcatns, Klein. 3529, 3538, 3541, 6 ; 3810, 10 b. 

Lablab, L 3749, 8, " Kutu'' and "Aha," are the native names. 
Seeds eaten by natives after four times bjiling in fresh waters. 
Cajanus indicus, Spreng. 
Atylusia searabseoules, Benth. 
Sophora glauca, Lescli. 
Biachvpterum timorense, Bentli- 
Derris uliginosa, Benth. 

Spanogheana, Bl. 
Pongamia glabra, Vent. 

Dalbergia pubinervis, Span. " Species dubia, Miq." 
Flemingia strobilifera, Br. 

lineata, lioxb. 
Pachyihizus angulatus, Mich. 4110. 
Khynchosia sericea, Span. 

medicaginea, DC. 
Candollei, DC. 
minima, DC. 
Eriosuna chinense, Yog. 3430, 1. 
Csesalpinia Nuga, Ait. 

ferruginea, Dene. 
pulchorrima, Sio. 4022. 

tepiaria Roxb.? 3793, 9. Climber co.c.ing great stretches of 
the forest with its bright orange flowers. 
Mezoneuron glabra, Desf. -- 

pubescens, Desf. 
Cassia mirr.osoides, L. (R. Brown, Coupang\ 3473, 1 ■ 3437 2 
Fistula, L. 3890, 10 a. 
me^alantha, Dene. 
exaltata, Eeinw. (sp. dubia.) 
Absus, L. 3477, 1. 

occidentals, L. ? (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
Sophora, L. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 2480, R."»03, 40:>S, 7 
Tora, L. (R. Brown, Cottpang.) 3602. 7. 
timorensis, Deem. (R. Brown, Coupang.^ 3719, g 
Bauhinia ampla, Span. 

racemosa, Lam. 
Tamarindus indicus, L. 3132,1. Native name, " Ru." 
acidq, Reinw. 

sp. (cf. B. glauca, Wall.) R. Brown. 
Cynometra caulifiora, L. 
bijuga, Span. 
Desmanthus trispermus, Span. " Forsan Neptunia." Miq. 
Ac.tcia Farnesiana, Willcl. (R. Brown.) 
tomentella, Zipp. 
quadrilatera lis, DC. 
AlLizzia proccra, Benth. 3595, 7 ; 3770, 9. 



IN TIMOR. 505 



Albizzia lebbekoidcs, Benth. 

stipularis, Boie. 3G83, 4038, 7. 
Pithceolobium umbellatum, Bth., /3. mouiliforuin. 

? laxiflonmi, Bth. 
Inga petrocarpa, Span. (sp. dubia.) 

Rosacea. 

Kubus rosajfolius, Sin. 3-74, 10 b ' 3518, R 
sp. 3502, 6 ; 3913, 4026, Q ' 
sp. 3524, 6. 

Grangeria borbonica. Lam. 

Primus laurifolia, Dene. 

Eriobotna japonica, Lindl. 

Pygeum sp. 3G80, 39U5, 7. 
Saxifraaacex. 

Poylosomx ilicifolia, Bl. 3S13, 10 b, 
Cucurhitacex. 

Tiichosanthes br.icteatn, Vo'gt. 

Momordica Char.intia, L. $ abbreviata 37G4, 9. 

Luffa cylindiica, Roem. 

j8. insularum, Conn. 

Citnillus vulguis, L. (Cucumis d'issectus, Dene.) 

Coccinia eordifolia, Cojn. (C. iinliea, W. & A.) 4021, 7, 
Crassulaceie. 

Bryophyllum calyciuum, L. 3736, Q, 
Rhizophorese. 

Caiallia timorensis, Bl. 
Droseracrse. 

Drosera lunatn. Ham. 3420, 1 ; on rocky spots on red clayey soil, 2500 ft. 
Not common below 2000 ft. 3519, 6. 

C-yr.ibreta: x. 

Terminal ia microcarpa, Dene. 
Laguucularia lutea, Gaud. 

Myrtacese. 

Eucalyptus alba, Rtinw. 3551, 1. 
obliqua, llerit. 

Jnmbosa alba, Rumph. 8. timorensis. 

Syzygium obovatum, DC. " Timor ? " 
timoiianum, Dene. 

Eugenia Smithii, Foir. (Acinenn floribumla, DC.) R. Brown. 

Barringtonia timorensis. Bl. 

Planchonia timoriensis, BL, J3. alata. 

Psidium pomiferum, L. 3733, 8. 

Decaspermum paniculatum, Kurz. 3G70, 7. 
sp. 3585,7; 3859,3838,10 b. 
Melaslomacese. 

Memecylon paiiciflonitn, Bl. 3598, 7- 

Osbeckia chinensis, L 3550, 6 ; 404G, 3912, 10 b. 

Melastoma malabatbricum. 3506. 6 ; 3822, 3894, 10 b- 

Lytlirarieie. 

Suffreuia dicliotoma, Miq. 
Hapalocarpum iudicum, W. & A 
Pemphis acidula. Foist. 
Lawsonia alba, Lam. 
Grislea tomentosa, Roxb. 

Woodfordia floribunda, Salhh. 3425, 1. Common on the ndgey ol the hills 
from 1500-2500 ft. 



506 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Onagraricx. 

Jussiroa angustifolia, Lam. 
sutfruticosn, L. 
repens, L. 

Samydacex. 

Casearia hexagona, Dene. 

/8. gelonioiJes, Bl. 
ramiflora, Dene. 
Passiflorex. 

Disemma timoriana, Miq. 

Herbertiana, DC. 
Modecca populifolia, Zipp. 
Passirlora moluccana, Bl. 3732, 9. 

Cucurbitacex. 

Trichosanthcs bracteata, Voigt. 

Momordica charantia, L., j8. abbreviata. 37G4, Q. 

Lufta cylindrica, Boem., jS. insularum, Cogn. 

Citrullus vulgaris, L. (Cucuinis dissectus, Dene.) 

Cnccinia coidifolia, Cogn. (C. indica, W. & A.) 4021, 7. 

Melothria Kauwenhoffii, Cogn. (Zehneria deltoidea, Miq.) 3157, 1. 
heterophylla, Cop. 3685, 7 ; 3627, 7. 
maderaspatana Cogn. (L$i yonia scabrella, Ser.) 

Muellerargia timorensis, Cogn. 

Gynostemma? bederrcfolia, Cogn. (Sicyos Lederajfolius, Dene.) 

Zanonia indica, L. 

ALoniitra sarcophylln, Bcem. 

timorana, Bcem. (Zanonia, Span.) '' No.i satis nota." 
Begoniacex. 

Blezierea salaziensis, Gaud. (Diploeliniura ? tfmorense, Miq.) 

Begonia sp. 38(33, 10 b. cp. preceding. 

Ficoidex. 

Sesuviura (Pyxiporna) polyandrum, Ftnzl. 

Glinus lotoides, Lcefl. 

Mollugo striata, L. 

oppositifolia, L. 3713, 7 ; 4100. 
XJmbelliferx. 

Anethum graveolens, L. 
Araliacex. 

Heptapleurum verticillatum, Miq. 

ArtbroDhyllum (NothopanaxV) pinnatum, Miq. 

Delarbrea paradoxa, Yieill. 3641, 4042, 7 ; 3662, 7 ; 3756. 8 ; 3S39, 10 b- 

Gamoietal/£, by W. Fawcett, B. Sc, F.L.S. 
Caprifoliacex. 

ViBt-ENUM Forbesii, Fawc. (nov. sp.). 3587, 3583 (part.). Tahaolat Mount. 
5000 ft. between Q and 7 ; 4040, 4"S9, 7. Foliis oppositis petiolatlr, 
ellipticodanceolatis acuminatis, basi acutis integris inembranacejs glabris 
in axillis venarum subtus barbatis, venis utiinque 3-4 prominulis; cymis 
breviter pubescentibus fructiferis glabre?centibus corymboso-umbellatis 
terminalibus foliis triplo brevioribus, bracteis et bracteolis linearibus 
deciduis; floribus omnibus conformibus; calyce breviter pubescente, 
dentibus 5 brevibus inasqualibus integris aut irregulariter dentatis; 
corolla parva campanulato-rotundata glabra, lobis 5 tubura osquantibus 
obtusis ; stylo brevi, stigmatibtis 3-4 parum coalitis obtusis ; drupa uni- 
loculata compressa elliptica; semine endocarpio conformi. 
Foliorum laminae impuncfatse 10-14 cm., petioli 1|-2| cm. Bractea? 2§-3 
mm., bracteolse 1 -1 £ m. longae Corolla 2 mm. longa. Drupa 7 mm. longa, 
5-6 mm. lata. 



IN TIMOR. 507 



This species appears to be nenr to V. Zippelii, Miq.. V. punctatum, 
Ham., but differs in the leaves and the indumentum of the calyx. 
Viburnum (sp., aut var. prajc. ?) folds ovato-lanoeolatia aoumiuatis basi 
obtusis; drupa obovata (flores non vidi). 3872, 10 b. 

Composite. 

Vernonia cinerea, Less. 4059, 1, 

var. erisreroides. (R. Brown, Omipang.). 
var. (. DC. (V. parviflora, Beinw.). (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
Elepliantopus scaber, L. 

Adenostemma viscosum, Forst. 'R. Brown, Coupang.). 
Dichrocephala latifolia, DC. 3537. 40GG, 6. 
Microglossa volubilis, DC. 3G21, 7. 
Bacchaiis? arborea. L. 

Blumea tenella, DC. (Timor only; see note on Timor species of Blumc.i, 
by C. B. Clarke, in'Fl. Brit. Ind.' iii. 671.) 
fasciculata, DC. (excl. sp. Birman.). 
timorctisis, DC. 

laciniata, DC. (B. cichoriifolia, DC) 
tcssilifl>>ra, Decile. 
acutata, DC. 
viminea. DC. 
balsamifcra, DC. 3198, 2 , and at Kilehoho, 3100-4000 ft. between 

2 and 3, 
Wightiana, DC. (Timor, Te3'smann; see Martelli in 'N. Giorn. 
Bot. Ital.' xv. 290.) 
Pluchca indiea. Less. 

Sphreranthus africanus, L. (S. microjephalus, DC.) 
Monenteles redolens, Labill. 

tomentosus, Schz. Bip. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
Gnanbalium lureo-albuin, L. 3913, between 2 and 3 ; 4025, 6. 
Wed'elia calendulaeea, Less. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 3497, valley of 

Erlihumauberek, 3500 ft. April. 3848, 10 a. 
Wollastonia moluccana, DC. (Wedelia, B. & H.) 3928, 6 (also specimen 
with 35G7). 
asperrima, Decne. 
glabrata, DC. 
Wedelia biflora, Hook. f. (Wollastonia scabriuscula, DC) 3567, R. 
Bidens pilosa, L. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 3488, 3489, 2 J 3595, 6 ; 37u4 a. 7. 
Ta^etes patula, L. 3559. In abundance by the sides ot stream below 

f urakain, 3000 ft. ; distant from any habitation. (Native of Mexico.) 
Chrysanthemum coronarium, L. Cultd. ; native of Mediterranean regions. 
Centipeda orbicularis, Lour. 36G7, 7. 
Erechthites quadridentata, DC. 

Emilia sonchifolia, DC 3443, 1 : 3493, 3955, 6. ,.„.•« - r 
Senecio appendicular, Less, (fide Deoaisno ; "endemic in Mauritius, 

J.G.Baker.). , „ 

Lactuca lamgat.i, DC. (Aracium lsevigutum, Miq.) rf7i0, 7. 

Bubiacem. 

Nauclea grandifolia, DC. 

glandulifera, Span. 
tericta. Span. 

sp. ; 37G9, 9. « a 

Hyroenodvetion timoranum, Miq. (Cinchona timorann, Span.) 
Dentella repens, Forst. (R. Brown's list, Coupang). 
Avgostemma timorense, Benn. (R. Brown. * oupang.) 
Oldenlandia paniculata, L. 3797 ; 9. (R- Brown, Coupang.) 
sp., flowers white. 3547. 6. 
alata. Keen, (pterita, Miq.). 
Ophiorrhiza tonientosa. Jack. 3934,9. 

Mun«os, L. (R.Brown, Coupang ; "Nama. ) 



508 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

Mussaanda frondosn, L, 3433, 1, 

Raudia maculata, Span, 

Fernelia buxifolia, Lam. Var. tiinoreusis, Dtcne. F. buxifolia occurs only in 
Mauritius and Rodriguez, 

Guettarda speciosa, L. (R. Brown's list, Cjupang.) 

Timonius Rumphii. DC; 3659, 7. Var. 3436, 3906 (with 3646), 1 

Knoxia corymbosa, Willd. 3523, 402S, 4009, 6. 

Canthopsis pubirlora, Miq. (Endemic monotypic genus.) A. Cunningham, 514, 

Ixora timorensis, Decne. (Pavetta timorensis, Miq.}. 3798, 9. 4076, 7. 
(found also in Australia), 
coccinea, L. (Sir E. Home, Coupang.) 

Ixora gracilis, R. Br. mss. (R. Brown and D. Nelson, Timor, Herb. Banks.) — 
Stipulis basi connatis dilatato-ovatis abrupte et longiter cuspidatis, persis- 
tentibus ; foliis glabris petiolatis lanceolatis aut ovali-lanceolatis utrinquo 
acutis aut apica subacuminatis, 6-15 cm. Jongis, supremis saapa purvis basi 
rotundatis, membranaceis, nee nigris siccatis, venis pluribus patulis 
tenere venulosis; corymbis terminalibus gracilibus trichotome ramosis 
laxis, 12-16 cm. altis, 12 cm. latis, pedicellis bievissime pubescentibus 
corollas tubo bievioribus, bracteolis pirvis subulatis ; calyce brevissime 
pubescente, dentibus 4 brevibus triangulari-ovatis acutis ; corolla glabra, 
tubo angusto 11-14 mm. longo, laciniis 4 ellipticis acutis S mm. longis; 
staminibus 4 exsertis; stylo parum exserto, rainis 2 brevibus acutis 
reflexis ; bacca 6-7 mm. lata, pyrenis 1 aut 2. The flowers are quite unlike 
those of I. nigricans, as the tube is more slender, and the limb in bud 
is more than twice as broad. 

Ixora quixquifida, R. Br. mss. (D. Nelson, Timor, in Herb. Banks.).— Stipu- 
lis basi connatis triangularibus cuspidatis deciduis ; foliis glabris breviter 
petiolatis lanceolato-oblongis acuminatis basi subobtusis subcoriaceis, 
11—21 cm. longis ; paniculis terminalibus brachiatis, 9 cm. altis et latis, 
pedicellis glabris corollaa tubo brevioribus, bracteis parvis vix 2 cm. 
longis ovatis acuminatis, bracteis seeondariis 7 mm. longis, bracteolis 
nullis aut caducis ; calycis glabri dentibus brevissimis aut obsoletis ; 
corollse fauce barbato, tubo 10 cm. longo, laciniis 5 ellipticis acutis,.. 6-7 
mm. longis ; staminibus 5 exsertis ; stylo parum exserto, ramis 2 brevibus 
acutis. 

Pavetta indica, L. 3675, 7. 
longipes, DC. 

Myonima ovnta, Decne. (Mauritius.) 

Morinda citrifolia, L. 

Gynochtodes coriacea, Bl. 

Psychotria montana, Bl. 3903, 3907, 3910, 10 b. 
barbata, Span. 
? sp. parvifiora, Span. (D. Nelson in Herb. Banks). 

Chasalia capitata, DC. (Mauritius; Timor, fide Decaisne.) 

Geophila reniformis, G. Don. 3715,8. 

Paaderia foetida, L. (R. Brown's list, Coupang, " Tali.") 

Spermacoce stricta, Linn. f. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 3666, 7. 
ocymoides, Burnt. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
hispida, L. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 

Bigelovia sociata, Span. 
? pumila, Span. 
? angustifolia, Span. 

Galium rotundifolium, L. 3861, 10 b ; 6000 feet ; 4070, 6. 
6 ; 4000 feet. 

Goodenoviese. 

Scaavola Lobelia, L. (R. Brown's list, Coupang. j 
Campanulacese. 

Spbenoclea zeylanica, Gxrt. 

Wahlenbergia gracilis, DC. On rocky exposed banks, 3511 and 4048, 3' 
3914, 4065, 7, ' 



IN TIMOR. 509 



Yacdniaeese. 

Vaccinium timorexse, Feme, (nov. sp.), — Frutex, ramulis petiolis raccmis 
oalycibu-que pubescentibus; foliis brevi-petiolatia lanceolatia utrinque 
acutis 22-30 mm. longis integris plums coriaeeis glabris supra lucidis 
subtus pallidis; racemis 4 cm. lo:i_:ii axillaribus subsecundia, pedicollis 
G-8 mm. longis; calyee 2-3 mm. longo, lobis tubi longitudine acutis; 
corolla 4-6 mm. longa tnbulari rosea; filamentis staminum pilosis, Loculia 
antheravum ellipticis minutiss'mis spitmlis tectis dorso mutieis in tubulos 
breves rectos apice apertos productis; disco eplgyno pubesconte extrorsum 
sinuato; bacca 5 mm. longa globus i glabrescente nigra. Tliis Bpociea 
differs from V. ellipticum especially in the flat lanceolate leaves and 
glabrous fruits. "3123, straggling shrub; rose-coloured flowers; dark 
green fruit, becomiug black when rip:;; 1, 35S6, large shrub; flowers 
scarlet; Tahaolat Mt., 5000 feet ; April." 

P. denticulatum. '3447, largo bush, flowers rose coloured, on slopes of 
gorges. Foliage larger than in 3423, and margins of leaves slightly 
denticulate ; 1." 

Efacridese. 

Leucopogon obovatus, Fawc. (nov. sp.),— Frutex erecius, ramulis pubee 
centibus ; foliis conferlis erccio-imbricat's sessilibus obor.ito-lanceolatia 
acutis, mucrone rigido terrain atis, plariis srepe snbeoncavis. 15 mm. longis. 
3 mm. latis; pedunculis axillaribus brevissimis 1- aut 2-floris ; bracteis 
minimis; braeteolis latis obtusis, cnlyce dimidio brevioribus; cnlycis 
laciniis latis obtusis mucronatis ciliolatis 2^ mm. longis ; corolla calycibus 
longiore, lobis acutis; staminibm fauci affixis, anthem obtusis; ovaric 
5-loculari; diupa 1- aut 2-loculari subglobosa ealycibm longiore, disco 
hypogyno subconvexo sublobato coronata. This species resembles L. 
ruseifolius, I. moluccanum, L. laneifolius, and L. javanicus, but differs in 
several particulars, such as shape of leaves, sepals, and fruit. 3493 a 
On top of Tehulah, 4000 feet ; April ; fruit green. 

riniu 'mginece. 

Plumbago zeylanica, L. 3778, 3778 n, 9, (R. Brown's list, Coupang, " Akar 
lucca.") 
I'limulacex. 

Lysimachia decurrens, Forst. 3501, 6. I Q tllis specimen the stamens arc 
not so long as the oblong corolla tubes ; but this may be due to di- 
morphism. 

Myrsinex 

Msesa indica, A. DC. ; 2613, 7. Yar. Wightiana, A. DC. (leg. Spanoghe, fide 
Scheffer). 

MassA pulchella, Fawc. (nov. sp.),— Foliis petiolatis glabris tovigatis 
nitidis integris aut glandulose remote serratis, lanceolatia utrinque acutis 
ehartaceis;" racemis basi ramosis axillaribus et terminalibus folio Bilb- 
longioribus glabris; pedicellis florem ajquantibus; bracteis lauceolutia 
acurainatis, pedicelli triplo brevioribus; bracteolis ovato-lanceolotia 
eiliolatis c.dj'ce multo brevioribus; floribus pentameris; calycis laciniis 
triangularibus ciliolatis; corolla calyee duplo longiore, laciniis ovato- 
i otundatis ; ovarium fere inferum. 

Folia 10-13 cm. longa, 3-4 era. lata venis primaries utrinqne 4-5, secundaria 
obscuris. 355G, 3565, 6 ; 3573, river banks, 6 ; 4103, 8. 

M.xsa verrucosa, Scheff. 3763, small tree, 9. . ,.„-,. - . 

leucocarpa, BL ("Timor? prope Mallathoi, Reinwardt, bcheffer). 

Ardisia Spanoghei, Scheff. (Spanoghe). _ 

fiangnlaBlifolia, Scheff. Zipp. mss. ; leg. Zipp. et bpan.) 

Ebenacae. 

Diospyros timoriana, Miq. 

montana, Roxb., vnr. cordifolia, Hiem 
maritinia, Bl. 

34 



510 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

Oleacex. 

Jasniinum Sanibae, Ait. A. Cunningham. 

simplicifolium, Forst. R. LSrown. 
pubescens, Wittd. A. Cunningham. 
Chionanthus montana, Bl. 

timorensis, Bl. 
Noronhia emarginata, Pet. Th. 
Nyctanthes arbor-tristis, L. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 

Apocynacex. 

Melodinis Forbesii, Fawc. (nov. sp.), — Foliis ovato-lanceolatis basi rotun- 
datis breviter petiolatis glabris supra nitidis pergamaceis ; cymis termina- 
libus folio multo brevionbus multifloris coarctatis, ramis pedicellisque 
incanvsubvelutinis glabrescentibns bracteatis, pedicellis calyce bievioribus, 
" fioribus albis fragrantibus," (HX).F.) ; lobis calyeinis ovatis obtusis glabris 
ciliatis; corolla extus subvelutina, tubo tereti intus supra stamina dense 
velutiuo.limbilaciniis oblique obovato-rotundatis parce et brevissime pilosis, 
faucc hispidis, squamis 10 lineaiibus acutis glabris superne liberis inferno 
decurrentibus ; staminibus ad medium tubuni inclusis, filamentis anthera 
duplo brevioribus ; ovario supra ba^im unicellulari, stigmatis apiculo bifido. 
Folia 12-14 cm. longa, 3^-4 cm. lata, petioli 5-6 mm. longi. Corolla? 
tubus 10 mm., limbus 6 mm. longus. 3708, 7. This species comes near 
to M. Cumingii, but the flowers are smaller, the stamens placed higher 
up in the tube, and the apex of the stigma is bifid ; the ovary is only 
partially two-celled. 
Melodinus terminalis, Span, (undccribed ; perhaps the same as the species 

described above). 
Cari^-sa Carandas, L. 

Rauwolfia sumatrana, Jack, var. longifolia, Bl. 
Alyxia Spanogheana, Miq. 
Tabernsemontana orientals, R. Br. 3781, 9. 
Vallaris Pergulana. Burm. 
Parsonsia spiralis, Wall. 
Cerbera Odallam, Gxrt. 
Wrightia pubescens, R. Br. 

calycina, A. DC. var. y. Miq. 
tinctoria, Bl. 
timorensis, Miq. 
Spanogheana, Miq. 
Alstonia scholaris, R. Br: 
spectabilis, R. Br. 
macrophylla, Wall. 
sericea, Bl. 
Anodendron paniculatum, A. DC. 

Pluineria acutifolia, Poir. (E. Brown's list, Coupang, " Bonge tonke.") 
Vinca rosea, Willd. (" In hortis," Spanoghe). Abundant in river beds below 
Kalakuk. 

Asclepiadex. 

Cryptolepis laxifiora, Bl. 
Secamone micrantha, Decne. 

timorensis, Decne. 
Calotropis gigantea, Br. (R. Brown's list Coupang, " Daun susu.") 
Tylophora crassifolia, Decne. (Zipp. mms.) 

villosa, Bl. (fide Zippel). 

cuspidata, Decne. (Zipp. mss.) 
Marsdenia tenacissima, Wight & Am. 
Pergularia odoratissima, Sm. 

bifida, Decne, (Zipp. mss.) 

tomentosa, Span. (P. crocca, Zipp. mss.) 
Dregea volubilis, Benth. 
Gymnema syringsefolia, Benth. 



IN TIMOR. 5H 

Gyninema albidum, Decne, 

Disckidia, orbicularis, Decne. 
timorensis, Decne. 

Hoya laurifolia, Decne. 

Ceuopegia obtusii.oba, Fmcc. (nov. sp.),— Volubilis, glabra; folks ovatia 
attenuato-acurainatis b.isi rotundatis membranaceis ciliolatis subrepando 
dentatis, lamina 5-7 cm. longa, petiolo 1-2 cm. longo ; pedunculia foliis 
dimidio brevioribus, floribus 3-7 poilicellatis ; calvcis laciniis Rubulato- 
acuminatis 2-2J mm. longis ; corollis 1J-2J cm. lo'ngis, tubo intua circa 
i-tamina piloso; coronas lobis exterioribus 10 brevibua obtuaia piloaia 
interioribus 5 longis knearibus tubspatkulatis. 3801, flowers dark reddish- 
brown; 9. 
Loganiacex. 

Buddleia asiatica, Lour. 3723, 8. 

Strychuos ligustrina, Bl. 

Mitrasacme pygmtasa, Br. 3492, 3 ; 3884, 10 t>. 

trincrvis, Span. Probably same as M. pygmxa. 

Geniostoma moutanum, Zoll. & Mor. 3552, 6; 3G10,'3fJ54, 3947, 7. 

Boraginem. 

Tournefortia argentea, L. f. (Spanoglie, R. Crown's list, Coupang.) 

uaimentosa. Lunik. 3835, 10 b 
Oordia subcord.ita, Lamk. (Wiles and Smith, Coupang.) 

trichostemon, DC. 

eubpubcscens, Decne. (" Kanoena," Spanoghe.) 
Ehretia laurifolia, Decne. 

timorensis, Decne. 

buxifolia. Roxb. 
Heliotropium indicum, L. (R. Brown's list, Coupang, " Daun filter.' - ) 

Convolculacem. 

Argyreia Reinwarrltiana. Miq. 

Guickenotii, Chois. 
Lettsomia setosa, Roxb. 
Ipomoea boua-nox, L. (R. Brown's list, Coupang.) 

grandiilora, Lamk. 3773, 9. 

capillata, Span. 

aquatica, Forsk. (5. reptans, Foir., R. Brown's list, Coupang.) 

reniformis, Clmis. 

angustifolia. Jacq. 3751, 8. 

ckryseides, Ker. 

tricliocalyx, Steud. (? R. Brown, Coupang. 

obscura, Ker. 4004, 1. 

sepiaria, Keen. 

campanulata, L. 

cym sa, Roem. 

petaloidea, Chois. 

pes-c.ipra?, Sw. (R. Brown's list, Coupang.) 

vitifolia, Sw. 

pumila, Span. 

digitata, L. 

Quamoclit. L. 3871, 10 b. 

repanda, Jacq. (,W iles aIul Smith, Coupam;.) 

kederacea, Jacq. 3770, 9 ; 4105, 1 ; 4108, 9. (K. Biowd, (A>u- 
pang.) 
Hewittia bicolor, Wight. 
Convolvulus parviflorus, Valil. 
Porana volubilis, Burm. 

racemosa, Roxb. 4104, 1, 
Evolvulus alsinoMes, L. 
Cuscuta reflexa, Roxb. 

moaogyna, Valil. 



512 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

iceas. 
Lycopersicum esculentum, Mill. (R. Brown's list, Coupang, "Matfoo 

mattee.") 
Solanum avieulare, Forst. 

dianthophorum, Dun 

hoiridum, Dun. 

violaceum. Br. 

verbascifolium, L. 3623, 7 ; 3S98, 10 b ; 4036, 7 

nigrum, L. 3785, 9 | 3826, 3881, 10 b. 

indicum, L. 38-11, 10 b. 

barbisetum, Nees. ? 3US4, 7 ; 400S, 8 ; 4096, 10. 

Melongena, L. 3786, 9 ; 4091, 1 ; flowers small, 8 lines in 

diameter; fruit, 1 inch, 
torvum, Sw. 3806, 10 b. 
dentieulatum, Bl. 3164, 1, 
Capsicum frutescens, L. Spauoghe. 

minimum, Roxt>. 
Nicotiana suaveolens, Lehm. 

Tabacum, L. H.O.F. No number. 
Physalis minima, L. 
Datura Metel, L. 

fastursa. L. 3759, 9 ; 4061, 9. 

Scroplivlarinese. 

Mazus la3vifulius, 7?/. 
gratissima, BL 
Herpestis floribunda, Br. 

Monniera, H.B.K. 
Bonnaya brachiata, Linlc & Otto. 
veronicajfolia, Spreng. 
Bucbnera arguta, Decne. 

ramosissima, E. Br. 

tomentosa, Bl. 3805,3811,10 b. (R. Brown, Coupang.; 
asperata, R. Br. 
Btjcuneea TimoRENSis, Fawc. (nov. sp.), — Pubesoene, caule creeto timplici 
10-23 cm. alto ; folds oppositis integris, radicalibus et infimis subrosulatis 
obovatis 8-16 njm. longis, caulinis oblongis et superne linearibus; spici 
interrupta ; bracteis 2-2J mm. longis, lanceolatis acuminatis pubescentibus 
calyce plus dinddio brevioribus ; calyce fructifero 4-5 mm. longo, 2 mm. 
lato, pubescente, dentibus brevibus lanceolatis; corolla glabra 1-1£ cm. 
longa, tubo calyce duplo longiore ; capsulis vix exsertis. This species 
differs from its nearest Australian allies, and also from B. arguta, in the 
large corolla combined with small leaves and low simple stem. 3191; 
flowers pink; among grass on top of Kilehoho ; between 2 and 3 at 4600 
feet. . 
Bi'chneha exseeta, Fawc. (nov. sp.). — Scabro-pubefcens, caule creeto ramoso 
7|-9 dm. alto; (oliis altemis, superioribus suboppositis lanccolato-oblongis 
obtusis integris aut tepando-dentatis; spica multiflora interrupts ; 
bracteis ovato-lanceolatis scabris, calyce dimidio brevioribus, inrimis 
ssepe longioiibus; calyce fructifero 4-5 mm. longo, 2 mm. lato, pubeseenti- 
scabro, dentibus brevibus triangularibus acut's ; corolla glabra calycibus 
duplo longiore; capsulis longe exsertis. This species is remarkable for its 
long capsule. 3811, bs. 10 b. (R- Brown, Coupang.) 
Striga tepanogheana, Miq. 

paniflora, Benth. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 3737 ; flowers bluish- 
purple, 8. 
multiflora, Benth. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
Torenia minuta, Bl. 3183, 1 ; 3950. 7. 

peduncularis, Benth. 3440, 4058, 1, The flowers are somewhat 
smaller than in the description in 'Fl. Brit. Ind.,' the lower stamens 
are longer and the upper shorter than in plate 4229, Bot. Mag. 



IN TIMOR 513 



Rcoparia dulcis, L. 4109. 

Sopubia triflila, Ham. 3555, 6, 
Gcsneracese. 

Rhyncoglossum obliquum, Bl. 

Epithema Brunonis, Deem. 
diffbrme, Span. 

Cyutandka serrata, Faioc. (nov. sp.), '• Arbuscula" (H. 0. F.),— Folds serra- 
tis late lanceolatis utrinque attenuatis subinroqnalibug glabris, maj 
2 dm. longis, 45 mm. latis, nervis obscure pubescentibus primariia Iaterali- 
bus utrinque S-10, petiolis 15-20 mm.; pedunculis 0-5 mm. ; 1 
(? caducisj ; pediccllis 2-3, 2 cm. lougis, umbellatim ortis ; culver fructifern 
0-8 mm. longo, 5-fiJo, campanulato, glabro, lobis 4 mm. long'is laurel;!: is 
acuminatis; corolla . . .; ovario . . .; disco annulari; bacoi ellipsoidea. 
Apparently mar to C. cuneafa, but differs in being glabrous, in the s ir f i 
long-petioled kaves, and the short peduncles. 3868, 3883, 10 b 
Binnoniacex. 

Millingtonia hortensis, L. f. 

Doliehaudrone Rheeclii, Stem. 

Colea ramitiora, DC. 

Fedalinese. 

Josephinia Imperatricis, Vent. 

Sesamum indicum, DC. (11. Hrown, C'oupang, " Lena.' - ) 

M irtynia diandra, Glox. 3454, and 4052, 1, (Mexico.) 

Acantlaicem. 

Thunbersria fragrans, Roxb. (R. Brown, and Smith and Wiles, Coupane.) 
fragrans, var. Isevis, C. B. Clarke. 3783, 9 ; 3852, 10 a ; 1 V :; - 1 
hastata, Decne. 
Nomaphila petiolat.i, Decne.' 

Sautiera Decaisnii, Nees. (mbuotypic endemic ganus). A. Cunningliaii), 320 
Kuellia I irsuta, Nees. 

Decidsniana, Nees. 

prostrata, Lam., var. dejecta, C. B. CI. 
Strobilanthes timorensis, Nees. 

aspern, Decne. A. Cunningham. 
Barleria Pi ionitis, L. 
Lepidagathis humifusa, Decne. 
javanica, Bl. 
iepens, Decne. 
Justicia Gcndarussa, L. f. 3774, 9. 

procumbens, L. 3986, 2 *, 3528, 6 J 3G91, 7. 
Eranthemum bicolor, Schr. (R. Brown, and Smith and Wiles, Coupaug.) 
Diclipteia glabra, Decne. A. Cunuingham. 
eriantha, Decne. 
spicata, Decne. 
Burmanni, Nees. 
Peristrophe albirlora, Hassle. 
Hypoestes rosea, Decne. 

Asystasia chelonoides, Nees. (B. Brown, Coupaug.) 
coiomandeliaua, Nees. 4083, 8 ; 4047, 7. 
Dianthera TEHMWALis, Faicc. (nov. sp.),— Caule debili. inferne dcciiim << :nti 




opposuis mchotomis, pec.— 
teolis minutis, subulatis; calyce 5-partito, lacinna sequahbua su lulatia, 
breviter glanduloso-pubescente ; corolla 1cm. longa, tubo reel : labio 
superiore bifido; staminibus 2 ad medium tubum corollse affixis D a ultra 
suuimum tubum attingentibus, fi'amentia filiformibua ; disco inularij 



514 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



capsula oblonga apice acuta tetrasperma. 3814, 10 a ; 3821, 4030, 10 b ; 
var. grandiflora, corolla H cm. loogn, tubo ampliato; paniculo glanduloso- 
pube'scente. Zollinger, No. 2951, Java. 

Yerbenaceie. 

Tetrma arborea, Kunth., Smith and Wiles. — No species of this tropical 
American genus has hitherto been recorded as spontaneous in the Old 
World, but Mr. Forbes has also met with it in Java in an undoubtedly 
wild state, and in great plenty (see p. 78). It is not at all improbable that 
it will he met with in other localities. A nearly allied genus has lately 
been described by Prof. Oliver in Ic. Plant. (PI. 1420), namely Petrscovitex. 
The only species of this genus known, P. Riedelii, was obtained a short 
time ago by Mr. Kiedel's collectors in the island of Buru; but it is 
reported from Amboina by Kumphius (Vol. v., p. 4, t. 3) in 1747 under the 
name Funis qvadrifidus, and specimens in fruit exist in Brit. Mus. Herb., 
collected by Christopher Smith in 1798 in Honimoa or Saparua, an 
island near Amboina. 
Vitex trifolia, L., var. uni folia ta. 3726, 3. 
pubescens, Vahl. 4056, 1. 

Negundo, L. (E. Brown, Coupang, " Lagoundi.") 
timoriensis, Walp. A. Cunningham. 
Clerodendron fexchrem, Fawc. (nov. sp.), — Eamulis, paniculi.-', et petiolis 
brevissime tomentosis ; foliis longe petiolatis cordatis ovato-rotundatis 
acuminatis integris repando-sinuatis, subtus ttiigoso-hirtellis, supr.i psene 
glabris, majoribus cum petiolo 24-30 cm. longis; panicula terminal! corym- 
bosa ; calycibus 8 mm. longis glabris, fructiferis non aucti.--, lobis 5 mm. 
longis, lanceolatis ; corollis '"corallinis," (H. O. F.) glabris, tubo 25 mm. 
longo; staminibus longe exsertis; drupa globosa 4-sulcata tenuit^r suecosa, 
pyrenibus 4 per paria cohserentibus. This is a well-mark< d species, with its 
large deeply cordate haves, the long-tubed corolla, and calyx not enlarged 
in fruit. 3604, 7 ; 3000 ft. ; April. 
Clerodendron inerme, Gsertn. 

longiflorum, Decne. 
Callicarpa cana, L. (H. Brown, Coupang ; C. sp. in list, " Cadia Bousson.") 
peduneulata, R. Br. 3i65, 1, 
sumatrana, Miq. ? 3601, 7. 
Premna timoriana, Decne. 
corymbosa, Rottl. 

sp. 3611, 3638, 3892, 4 OSS ; tree ; fruit becoming black, 7. 
Tectona grnndis, Linn. f. (E. Brown's list, Coupang, " Jdatti.") 
Lippia nodiflora, Rich. (E. Brown's list, Coupang.) 

Labiatm. 

Ocimum Basilicum, L. (R. Brown ; Coupang.) 

sanctum, L. (E. Brown, Coupang.) 
Moschosma polystachyum, Beuth. 

Plectranthus parviflurus, Willd. (P. australis, R. Br.). 3888, between 10-11. 
Coleus grandifolius, Bentli. 

scutellarioides, Bentli. (R. Brown, Coupang, " Bounga tunta.") 
secundiflorus, Benth. 
Hyptis brevipes, Poit. 3563. 
Calamintha moluccana, Miq. 

Scutellaria heteropoda, Miq. 3429. Leaves spread out on surface of ground, 
flowers deep cobalt blue. On ridges and crevices exposed to sun on red 
clayey soil ; 1 ; 3533, 6. 
Anisorneles camiicans, Bentli. 

ovata, R. Br. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
salviifolia, R. Br. 
Leucas procumbens, Desf. 

decemdendata, am. (Gaudichaud; E. Brown, Coupang, "Kappa 

Ma.") 
javanica, Benth. (? chinensis, Span., Timor). 



IN TIMOR. 515 



Teucrium viscidum, Bl. (Java.) 

0. detisiilora, Miq. (Timor.) 
Cymaria acuminata, Decne. 

Apetal.e, by "W. Fawcett, B. Sc, F.L.S. 
Nydagineie. 

Mirabilis Jalapa, L. (R. Brown's list, "Bounga mattari.') 
Boerhaavia repanda. 11". (R. Brown, Coupang. This may be the species 
denoted in his list, as B. tetran lia, " Lei lidi. ') 
diffusa, L. 4033, 9. 
a. obtusiloba, Chois. 

|3. acutifolia, Chois. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
y. pubeseens, Chois. (B. glutinosa, Vahl.) 
Pisouia excelsa, Bl. 

Amarantacem. 

Deeringia baccata, Moq. (D. eelosioides, R. Br.) 3u'56, 7, 4012, 1. 
Cclosia cristata, Moq. 
argentea, L. 
Amarantus spinosus, L. (R. Brown's list, Coupang. '■ Wajang.'*) 3455, 
3166, 3930. 
mangostanus, L. 
oleiaceus, L. 

polygainus, Miq. (R. Brown's list, Coupang. A. sp., " Sayal 
Badjang.") 
Ptilotus corymbosus, R. Br. Timor? 

Pupalia lappaeea, Moq. (R. Brown's list, Coupang, "Bounga Makriti" 
and " Susoro.") 3775 ; 9. 
atiopurpurea, Moq. 
#. pallida, moq. 
Mrua sanguinoleuta, B'. 

timorensis, Moq. 
Achyiantbes tomentella. Zi/ip. 

aspera. L. (R. Brown's list, Coupang, " Susoro and " Kakai. ) 
Alternanthera nodiflora, R. Br. 
Gomphrena globcsa, L. 

Chenopodiaceas. 

Arthrocnemum fruticosum, Moq. 

inilicum, Moq. 
Salsola australis, R. Br. 

brachypteris, Moq. 

Pdlygonacex. 

Polygonum barbatum, L. 3572, 6 ; also with 3532. _ 

cbinense, L. 3532, between 5 and 6. Turksam river, 3000 ft. 
flaccidiim, Roxb. 

Rumex nepalensis, Spr., var. 3539. 

ArisMocliiacese. 

Aristolocbia timorensis, Decne. 

^SpeTsubpeltattmr, WiOd. 3901, 3657, 7. The natives eat the leaves 
instead of the ordinary tin 
Betle, L. 

officinarum, C. DC. 
arborescens, Roxb. 3698 ; 7. 
arcuatum, Bl, with 3S5i ; 10b. . 
Peperomia tomentosa, .4. Didr. 37oo ; in clefts of rocks, 8 



516 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Laurinem. 

Litsea timoriann, Span. (Tetranthera discolor, Bl.) 
sebifera, Pers. (Tetrantliera laurifolia, Jncq.) 

e. platyph\lla, Bl, 2124, <?, 1 ; 3636,3891, 4074, 9, large tree, 7. 
(Cvlicodaphue) diversifolin, Bl. 3603, 36')5 a, 3673, 4035,7; 3815, 
3853, 10 b. 
Illigera dubia, Spun. 
Cassytha pubcscens, R. Br. 
Cinmimomum ? 3655, 7. 

Thymtleaccze. 

Pimelea iireyiti ba, Fuicc. (now sp.), — Ileihaeea crccta, annua (?), glabr.i, 
semipedalis ; foliis subspathulatis oppositis alternisve ; involucris gamo- 
pliyllis turbinatis 4-5 mm. latis, lobij 4 ovalibus obtusis 6 10 mm. longis, 
tubo 2-4 mm. Ion go ; florii>us hermaphroditis albis; pedicellis brevibus 
coinpressis ad medium tubum affixis ; periauthiis involucii lobo brevioribus 
aut longioribus, tubo 6-7 mm. longo, angnslo, post anthesin supra 
ovarium cireumseisso, lobis obtusis lf-2 mm. longis; btaminibus 1| mm. 
longis, connective angusto; exocavpio inembranaceo ; seminis supetficie 
nigra reticulati, albumine parco ; imbryonis cotyledonibus ovalibus, 1 in. 
long's. 

This species differs fiom its nearest allies in 1he involucre as well as, 
in other respects, e.g., from P. cornucopiie, Vahl. and P. punicea, E. Br. 
in the s!:ort peduncle and general habit ; from P. concreta, F. Muell, in the 
filaments ; and from P. sanguinea, F. Muell, in the perianth. It is the only 
one at present described as occurring beyond the limits of Australia and 
New Zealand. There is a small specimen in the Br. Mus. Herb., collected 
on the island of Savu, near Timor, by Banks and Solan der, which is 
very like this species in habit, but differs in the involucre, which is more 
like that of P. punicea, R. Br. 382S ; flowers white ; in grass. 10 b. 

Wikstrcemia Spanoghii, Decne. 

Drymispennum laurifolium, Decne. 4050, 9, 

Eleaqnacese. 

Eleagnus ferruginea, Rich, f 3570 ; flowers dirty white dotted with rusty 
red, 6. 

Loranthaceie. 

Yiscum orientate. W. 

aiticulatum, Barm., v. timorieusc, DC. 
Loranthus longiflorus, Desr. 3844, flowers scarlet. 10 b. 
obovatus, BL, var. minor (R. Brown, Coupaug.) 
indicus, Desr. 
triflorus, Sjian. 

pendulus, Sieb. 3543 ; parasitic on 3544 ; purple calyx, purple 
anther-tips in bud ; 6. 

Eupltorbiacese. 

Daphniphyllum Zollinger!, Muell. Arg. ? 3807, 3803, 3882, tree, 10 b. 
Dodecasteinon Teysmunni, 0. timorensis, Miq. 
Bridelia ovata, Decne. 
Andrachne fruticosa, Decne. 

Phyllanthus Casticum, Muell. Arg. var. 3612, small tree, 7|. var - fasci- 
culatus. 
reticulatus, Poir. 

/3. glaber, Muell. Arg. 
maderaspatensis, L. 

Niruri, L. " Taou.' (R. Brown's list, Coupang.) 
Urinaria, L. 3936. 

distichus, Muell. Arg. " Sala melee." (R. Brown's list, Cou- 
pang.) 
nodiflora, Muell. Arg. 



IN TIMOB. 517 

Phyllanthus obliquus, Muell. Arg. 

spp. 3802, 3834. 
Breyaia cernua, Muell. Arg. 

oblongifolia, Muell. Arg. (A. Cunningham, 317. ^ 
sp. 3652. 
Croton caudatus; a. denticulatus, Muell. Arg. 
Codiseum moluccanum, ])* cm . 
Clanxylon iridicum, Haszk. 
Cephalocroton discolor; #. virens, Muell. Arg. 
Gelouium glomerulatum, Hassle. 
Mallotus moluccanus, DC. 3745, 8. (E. Brown, Coupang.) 

ricinoides, Muell. Arg. 3658 ; young foliage, lake-scarlet, 7. 
repandus, var. scabrifolius, Muell. Arg. 
scandens, Muell. Arg. (Spanoghe, Coupang.) 
Philippinensis, Muell. Arg. 37(56, 9. 
lilisefolius, Muell. Arg. (II. Brown, Coupang.) 
muricatus, Muell. Arg. 
Macaranga Tanarius, Muell. Arg. 
Acalypha integrifolia, W. (R. Brown's list, Coupang A. sp. " Tataka.' - ) 

brachystachya. llornem. 3574, Q, 
Alcbornea javensis, Muell. Arg. 
Cleidion javanicum, Bl. 
Exceecaria Agallocha, L. 
Antidesma paniculatum, Bl. 
Stillingia sebifera, Michx. 3G50,7. 
Euphorbia lajvis, Pair. 

serrulata, Beinw. 

ncriifolia, L. (R. Brown's list, Coupang, " Laous.') 
congencra, Bl. 
thymifolii, Burm. 
Ricinus communis, L. (R. Brown's list, Coupang, " Dammar Eudc") 
Jatropha Curcas. (R. Brown's list, Coupang, " Dammar.") 

Urticacese. 

Sponia timorensis, Deme. 3720 ; 8, 

amboinensis, Deem. 3938, 3935, 9 ; 3723, 0, 
Celtis timorensis, Span. 
Fleurya cordata, Gaudich. 

iuterrupta, Gaudich. (E. Brown, Coupang.) 
Laportea peltata, Gaudich. 
Urera acuminata, Geiudich. (Mauritius.) 
Girardinia zeylaniea, Decnc. 
Pilea lucens, Wedd. 
Procris pedunculata, TI"m/</. 
Fatoua pilosa, Gaud. 3671, 7. ( R - Brown, Coupang.) 

lanceolata, Decne. 
Pouzolzia laevigata, Gaud. Mauritius; Timor, fide Decalsuo, 

indica, L. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
Pipturus argenteus, Wedd. 3742, 8. 

incanus, Wedd. 3680,40/8,7. 
Phyllocblamys spinosa, Ed. Bur. 

Malaisia toriuosa, Blancd. , 

Ficus iudica, L. (II. Biown's list, Coupang, "Tijka ; Gaud., " Goudaa. ) 
religiosa, L. (U. Brown's list, Coupang ; Gaudichaud, " Goudas. 
repens, Wilhl. (H. Biown's list, (Joupaug.)* 
Artocarpus integrifolia, Bl. 3777, 4024, 9. 

incisa, L. (K. Brown's list, Coupang.) 



* The species of Ficus collected by Mr. Forbes will be notice 1 by Dr. <•• 
King, of the Botanical Gardens, Calcutta, in his forthcoming illustrated Mono- 
graph on the group. 



518 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

Cudrania javanensis. Tree. 3731; 8. 

Boehmeria platyphylla, Don, var. 3911. 

Debregeasia longifolia, Wedd. 3635 ; frnit bright orange, 7 ; 3778. 

Casuarinese. 

Casuarina montana, Miq. 3514, #, slopes of valley of "Waimatang Kaimauk, 
3200 ft., 3746, 8 ; 3836,10 a; 9, 1. 
Conifers. 

bacrydium sp. 3855, 19 b. 

Monocotyledones, by H. N! Eidley, M.A., F.L.S. 
Hydroeharidese. 

Ottelia alismoides, Rich. (Coupang, E. Brown.) 

Orchideas. 

Obeeonia glandulifera, Ridl. (sp. ncv.). — Acanlis, foliis ensiformibus equi- 
tantibus acutis 4-uncialibus ; scapo gracili longo multifloro; floribus 
parvis subverticillatis ; bracteis lanceolatis acutis serratis ; sepalibus ovatis 
obtusis integris, petalis subsimilibus augustioribus ; labello brevi lato 
carnosulo obscure 5-lobo, lobis lateralibus erectis roluinnam amplecten- 
tibus, lobo medio 3-lobo, lateralibus rotundatis obtusis, medio obscuro 
parvo obtuso, margine labelli iu siuubus inter lobos lateralis et lobum 
medium glanduloso ; 3591, 7 ; flowers greenish-yellow. 

Liparis disticha, Lindl. 

Lipaeis aurita, Ridl. (sp. nov.), 3714, 7. — " Flowers orange and light red." 
Epiphyta, pseudobulbis parvis ovatis viridibus ; foliis linearibus lanceolatis 
subaculis petiolatis; caulibus erectis gracilibus; bracteis dissitis ovatis 
acutis; floribus copiosis parvis; sepalibus linearibus lanceolatis; petalis 
linearibus ; labello oblongo abrupte deflexo, coslis duabus ad basin crassis, 
lobis lateralibus brevibus erectis cornutis, lobo medio oblongo, trilobo, 
lateralibus linearibus convolutis, intermedio breviore obtuso; columna 
brevi rectiuscula crassa, alis brevibus duabus ; capsula pedicellata globosa. 

Dcndrobium affine. Dec. 

maeropbyllum (Veitchianum.) 3761, 9, 
grandifiorum. Ldl. 3820, 10 b. 
calophyllum, Rchb.fil. 

Spathoglottis plicata, Bl. 3504 ; sides of stream Maukuda, near station, 6 ; 
3923. near 10 ba. 

Oyrtopera bicolor. (Eulophia bicolor, Bl.) 

Sarcanthus timoriensis, Decne. 

(Erides timoriaaum, Miq. 

Vanda tricolor, Lindl. ; 3794, 9. 

Tropidia curculigoides, Bl. Fowers white ; 3795, 9. 

Microtis parviflora, R. Br. 3563, 6, This species, of a typically Australian 
genus, occurs also in the Loyalty Islands, the Isle of Pines, New Caledonia 
and New Zealand. 

Spirantbes australis, R. Br. 3824, 3825, 3862, 10 b. 

Oaladexia jayanica, Benu. MS. in Herb. Brit. Mus. ; 3516 [errore 3506] 6. 
" Among grass on rocky slope, 8." — Terrestris, caule erecto hispido ; folio 
siugulo lineari ; bracteis brevibus ovatis lanceolatis acutis hispidis ; 
floribus 2 parvis ; pedicellis quam bractea brevioribus ; sepalis oblongis 
lanceolatis brevibus acutis hispidis ; petalis subasqualibus ; labello lato 
costato purpureo, pustulis fiavis ornato; columna curva purpureo-ornata, 
anthera apiculata. Allied to C. carnea, R. Br. 

Thelymitea Foebesii, Ridl. (sp. nov.). — Terrestis, caule gracili, 5-unciali : 
folio siugulo anguste lineari glabra 3-unciuli ; vaginis caulinis 2 ; flore 
singulo; bractea ovario ferme «quante lanceolata acuta; sepalis lanceo- 
latis linearibus acutis ; petalis latioribus la'iceolatis ; columna brevi curva 
crassiuscula ciliata ; labello late lanceolato punctato obtuso. Quile 
distinct from T. javanica, BL, and most nearly approaching the T. rubra of 
Australia. 3509, 3 ; flowers purple. Bare banks. 



IN TIMOR. 519 

Ditjbis Fbyana, Bidl. (sp. nov.), 3508; "flowers yellow"; near 2—Herba 
terrestris; tuberibus duobus ovatis; caule crecto gracili J-1-pedali ; foliia 

anguste linearibus acuminatis longis ; floribus paucis 1-2 pedicellatis ; 
pedicello lougiusculo; bractea lanceolata longe acuminata ; Bepalo postieo 
ovato-obtuso, basi paullo angustato; lateralibua linearibus obturis 
porrectis parallelis ; petalia ovatis obtusis basi angu6tatis: labello elongato 

3-lobo, lobis lateralibus obtusis crenulatis venosis erectis, medio lonc-o 
obscure 3-lobo costis tribus, duabus lateralibus ad basin, una media 
ad apicem; marginibus labelli deflexis; columna brevi, alia majusculis, 
basi dilatata, non donticulata. This record extends the range of the genus 
Diuris, hitherto oidy known from Australia, to the Malayan region. 

[I have taken the liberty of asking Mr. Ridley to name this interesting 
species in honour of the Et. Hon. Lord Justice Fry, who during my travels 
in the East, expressed great interest in my observations, and who has 
given much attention to the Orchiderc and to the question of their 
fertilisation. H. O. F.] 

Habenaria (Peristylus) timorensis, Mill. (sp. nov.).— Terrestris, tubere 
oblongo, foliis lxtsalibus duobus ovatis oblongis ; veginis 4-lanceolatis longe 
acuminatis ; scapo subgracili vix pedale ; racemo laxiusculo ; floribus circiter 
llparvis; bracteis lanceolatis acuminatis ; sepalo posiico cucullato ovato 
acuminato, lateralibus lanceolatis acutis; petalibus subsimilibus angug- 
tioribus ; labello obcuneato, breviter 3dobo, basi[petalis scpalisque adnatis, 
callo camoso semicirculari, lobis lateralibus latis, medio brevi obtuso, 
calcare scrotiformi, apiculato columna brevissima; authera lata, loculis 
parallelis, polliniis grosse granulosis, caudiculis brevibus ; stigmate breviter 
bilobo. Its affinity is with H. spiralis, Wight. 3520, 6. Flowers yellow- 
ish-green. 

Habenaria Susanna?, Benth. 3137, 1 ; very sweet nectar at tip of the nectary ; 
nectaries 5J-in. in average length. Fertilised by a species of 
Ophiodes aud Bemigia virbia moths, 
grandis, Benth. 3112, 1, Nectaries with sweet nectar; the 
anthers burst of themselves aud pollen falls out as minute 
particles, 
sp. aft', angustata, Bi. 

Herminium angustifolium, Benth. In rocky spots, by side of a stream 
3561, 6; 3521, 6; 3515, 6; 3823, 10 b. 

Scitaminex. 

Globba strobilifera, Zoll. Mor. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 

Hedychium coronarium. Koen. 3712 a, and. 4113, 7. 

Curcuma (prob. sp. nov.). 3116, 1. 

Costus speciosus, L. 3731, 8. 

Canna indica, L. 3750 and 1003, 8. (R- Brown. Coupang.) 

Musa paradisiaca, L. 

Hypoxidess. 

Hyporis aurea, Lour. (H. Franquevillei, Miq.). 

hygrometrica, var. pratenste, B. Br. 3564,6. Hitherto only known 
from Australia. 
Amiryllidex. 

Crinum asiaticum, Boxb. 
Dioscoreacex. 

Dic-icorea globosa, Boxb. 3849,10 a. ,«.--, n ,„ M /T) u.^,, 

pentapliylla, Lam. 6, 3689, 7 J 3900, 10 a. <?-, 40S0, 0- («■ down, 
Coupang.) 
Trichodesma zeylanica, B. Br. var. 

Taccacex. 

Tacca palmata, Bl. 3765, 9' „_ _ , ., m . » 

pinnatifida, For*. 1017, 9 1 373o. 8 j ™™ md. Tul °- 



520 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Liliacex. 

Smilax timorensis, Bl. 3711, 8. Tne tw0 P airs of umbels of flowers together 
serve cUarly to distinguish it from S. latifoVa. 
anceps, Willd.— -This Muscarine plant was said by Deaaisne to have 
been collected in Timor by Eiedle' and Guichenot. Dj Candolle 
says that the specimens on which Decaisne founded his species are 
without flowers and very doubtful. It seems more prohable they 
belong to S. timorensis, and hardly likely that a plant known only 
from the Mascarine Islands and Madagascar should be found also 
in Timor. 
Eusteephus timorensis, Ridl. (sp. nov.)— Frutex scandens, caulibus tenui- 
bus ; foliis glabris alternis lucidis striolatis sexcostatis Ianceolatis minute 
apic'ulatis brevi-petiolatis ; petiolis tortis ; biacteis deciduis parvis vagin- 
antibus ovatis purpurascentibus ; inflorescentia composita terminali cymosa, 
pedicellis riorum tenuibus ; bacca snbglobosa nigra pericarpio tenui ; 
pulpa parva ; seniinibus 1-3 nigris loevibus politis, oblongis subtriangulatis, 
embryone in medio alburainis cornei parum curvo. This is a very interesting 
plant, of which unfortunately we have not the flowers. The only other 
species in the genus, E. Brownii, is a well-known Australian plant, with 
pink flowers and orange berries. 3530, 6, 
Laxmannia sessiliflora, Decne. Exclusively Australian genus. 
Cordyline timoriensis, Bl. 

Dracaena timorensis, Kth. (D. reflexa, Decaisne.) 
Asparagus racemosus W. (Asparagopsis Decaumei, Kth.) " Samodok nehau," 

native name. 3800, 9. 
GlorioB* superba, L. 3135, 1 ; 3827, 10 a, 3130, 1. 

Pontederlacese. 

Monochoria vaginalis, Decne. 

Cormnelinacese. 

Aneilema nudiflorum, R. Br. 3518, 6 ; 3789, 9. 
Cyanotis cristata, R. and S. 3721, 8. 

Palmce. 

Metroxylon Eumphii, Mart. 
Areca catechu, Roxb. 
Cocos nucifera, L. 

Pandanex. 

Freycinctia angustifolia, Bl. (E. Brown, Coupang.) 

scandens, Gaud. 3511, 6. ' 

Fandanus sp. 

Aroidaz. 

Typhonium divaricatum, Decne. 

sp. fruit. (E. Brown, Coupang.). 
Aiisauna sp., in fruit only. 3633, 7. 
Eemusatia vivipara, Scliott. 3788, 9 • on calcareous rocks. 
Ehaphidophora pertusa, Scliott. (E. Brown, Coupang.) 
Caladium esculentum, Scliott. (E. Brown, Coupang.) 
Amorphophallus campanulatus, Decne. 

Cyperaceie. 

Cyperus hyalinus, Valtl. (E. Brown, Coupaug.) A very rare plant, the 
only other known locality being in Madras, 
compressus, L. (E. Brown, Coupang.) 
globosus, All. 
lon^ifolius, Poir. 
radiatus, Yalil. 

scoparius, Poir. ; an African and Masearene plant, 
venustus, R. Br. 
pennatus, Lam. 



IN TIMOR. 521 



Cyperus difformis, L. 

auricomus, Sieb. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
rotundus, L. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
cuspidatus, Vuhl. 3598. 7. 
ferax, Rich. 

diffusus, Vahl. Kunstler. 
unibellatus, Benth. 3540, 6. 
Kyllinga brevifolia, Roth. (Coupang," Home.) 3538,6. 

monocephala. Roth. 
Heleocharis capitata, R. Br. 
Scirpus niucronatus, L. 

supinus, L. (S. luzononsis, Presl; S. timorensis, Kth.) 
Fimbristylis miliacea, Vahl. 
ferruginea, Vahl. 
cornplauata, Link. 

communis, Kth. (It. Brown, Coupang.) 
var. gracillima, n. var. 

gracillima; foliis angubtissimia glaucis; culmia subpedalibus 
tenuibus debilibus ; spieulis parvis sajpius congestis pallidis, 
vaginis glabriusculis. 3530, 6. 
glomerata, Keen. 
barbala, Nees. 
Fuirena glomerata, Vahl. 
Scleria scrobiculata Nees. 

purpurascens, £ teudel. 
Graminex. 

Faspalum scrobiculatum, L. 3472, 1. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 

orbiculare, Ford. 3' 62, 1. 
Eriochloa polyslachya, II. B. K. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
Isachne minutula, Kth. 

patens. R. Br. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
Panicum prostratum, Lam., var. setigerum. 
multinode, Lam. 
fluitans, Retz. 

colonum, L. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
acerescens, Trin. 

sanguinale, L. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
javanic-um, Foir. (R. Biown, Coupang.) 
carinatum, Presl. (R. Bro*n, Coupang.) 
propinquum, R. Br. 
belopus, Trin. 

cimicinum, Retz. (R. Brown, Cjupang). 
Setaria verticillata, Beauv. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 

glauea, Beauv. (R. Brown, Coupang.) On re., clay ; 3427, 3428, 1 ; 
4081, 8. I cannot distinguish these plants fiom Panicum ntl>i- 
ginosum of Steudel. 
Oplismenus hiitellus, Beauv. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 

compositus, Beauv. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
Spinifex squamous, L. 

longifolius, R. Br. 
Coix lacbryma-Jobi, L. 
Sclerachne punctata. R. Br.^ (R. Biown, Coupang; only once collected 

previously in Java by Horsiiebl.) 
Zea mays, L. (Cult. ; R. Brown.) 
Saccharum stenophyllum, Bute. 

cegyptiacum, R. Br. (R. Brown. Coupang). 
officinale, L. (R. Brown's list, Coupang.) 
Erianthus aureus. Ni > s. 
Pogonatberuni crinitum, Beauv. Coupang. 
Rottboellia exaltat.i, L. (R. Brown, Coupang ) 
Manisuris granulans, Sw. 



522 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 

Tbelepogon elegans, Roth. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
PoUinia laxa, Nees. 
Iscbicmuin rugosuni, Miq. 

niutcium, L. 
Heteropogon contortus, All. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 

insignia, Thn\ 
Chrysopogon aciculatus, Trin. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
Andropogon parviflorus, Roxb. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
serratus, Retz. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
Bladhii, Retz. 
Leschenaultianum, Dec. 
diversifiorus, Steud. (R. Brown, Coupang, ) 
Apluda aristata, Roxb. 4107, 1. 
Anthistiria Irondosa, R. Br. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
ciliata. 3461, 1, 
pilifera, Steud. 
Sorghum timoriense, Base. 4092, 1. 
t-p.? (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
Aristida, sp. near cumingiana. 3463, 1. 
Sporobolus diandrus, R. Br. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
Trisetum antarcticum, var. dpnsum. Exactly the form collected by Kirk, 

at Port Nicholson, North Island, New Zealand. 
Cenchrus echinatus, L. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
Chloiis truncata, R. Br. 
radiata, Sw. 

incompleta, Ruth. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
barbata, Sw. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
sp. aff. barbata. 
Eleusine indica, Sio. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 

oegyptiaca, Gaertn. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
Cynodon dactylon, L. 

Eragrostis Cumingii, Steud. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
rubens, Lam. 

plumosa, Betz. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
hapalantha, Trin. 
Koenigii, Nets. 
flexuosa, Roxb. 
multiflora, Roxb. 

amabilis, L. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
megastachya, Nees. 
Centotheca lappacea, Beauv. (R. Brown, Coupang.) 
Lepturus repens, R. Br. (R. lirown, Coupang.) 

Filtces, by W. Cakruthees, F.R.S., F.L.S. 

Gleichenia dicliotoma, Willd. 3181,1. 
Hymenophyllum dilatatum, Sw. 3866, 10 b. 
Trichomancs saxifragoides, Pr. 3946, Q, 

rigidum, Sw. 3175, 1. 
Lindscea ensifulia, Sw. 3179, 1, 

Adiantum lunulatum, Burm. 3434, 1 ; 3560, 6 ; 3615, 7 ; 3753, 8. 
rhizophorum, Sw. 3527, 6 ; 3941, 6 
hispidulum, Sw. 3476, 1 ; 3593, 7. 
Cheilantbes farinosa, Kaulf. 3526, 4071, 6. 

tenuifolia, Sw. 3145, 1, 
Onychium lucidum, Spreng. 3562, (J, 
Pellasa geraniifolia, Fee. 3716, near 8 ; 4014, 7. 

paradoxa, Hooh. 3918, 10 b. 
Pteiis longifolia, L. 3690, 7, 
venusta, Kze. 4019, 7. 
creuata, Sw. 3717, near 8. 



IN TIMOR. 523 

Pteris pyrophylla, Bl. 4097, 1. 

nemorulis, Willd. 3469, 1, 

quadriaurita, Retz. 3583, 6 ; 3G94, 7 • 3948, 7 • 4005, 1 
Doodia dives, Kze. 3701, 7; 3927. ' 

Asplenium lunulatum, Sw. 3867, 10 b. 

falcatum, Lam. 3692, 7. 

caudatum, Font. 40*13, 10 b. 

diaphanum, Bl. 3864. 10 b. ' 

stereophyllum, Kze. 3596, 7. 

japonicum, Thurib. 3607, 7. 
Aspidium aculeatum, /Sto. 392K, 3049, 7. 

aristatura, Sw. 300b\ 7. 
Ncphrodiuiu unitum, R. Br. 3581, Q, 

pteroides, /. Sm. 4095, 1, 
Nephrolepis acuta, i'resl. 3089, 7. 
Oleaudra ueriiformis, Cav. 3482, j . 3693 ; en rocks, 7, 
Poh podium subauriculatum, Bl. 3565, 3568, 6. 
Nothola3iia hirsuta, Desv. 3688 ; in crevices of rocks, 7 ; 3937, 8. 
Gymnogramme involuta, Don. 3594, 7. 
Vittaria elongata, Sw. (3642) 3632, 7 ; 3920, 4094, 10 b. 
Acrostichum spicatum, Linn. 35^4, 7 ; 3902, 3944, 10 bo 
" Ophiogl'jssum sp." H. O. P., see p. 447. 



INDEX. 



Accipiter rubricollis, 393 

Action of crabs on coral mud flats, 25 

Agaristidse, members of, mimicked by 
other Lepidoptera, 173 

Agassiz, Prof., on coral reefs 36, 40; 
on Tortuga and Florida Reefs, 37 

Ayrostemma montanum, 78 

Albino, Senhor, his kindness, 416 

Alefuros ( f Burn, 392, 3d4 

Alexander the Great, 178, 194 ; grave 
of, '260 

Amadina insularis, 422 

Ambil-anak, a form of mair age in Hie 
Lampongs, 151 ; in Passumah Lands, 
196 

Amblypodia eurnolpus, 137 

Amboina, arrival in, 288 ; first im- 
pressions of, 288 ; visit interior of, 

289 ; p( ople of, 290 ; churches in, 

290 ; salubrity of, 298; kindness of 
the Captain of the Chinese in, 288, 
2^7 ; Resident of, 288 

Arr.esiajuven's, mimicking in, 133 
Amherstia nobilis, 9 
Amnosia decora, 172 ; habits of, 173 
Amnesia eudamia, new species. 275 
Amorphophallus titanum, 10,175; great 

tubers of, 227 
Anacropora forbesi, new genus and 

species of corals from Keeling 

Islands, 44 
Anaphalis javanica, 210; saxatilis, 210 
Anal; Dalom, romance of, 158 
Anchors, three, dredged up at Menado, 

486; list of organisms adhering to 

them, 496 
Anjer, visit to, in 1878, 11; view of 

Sunda Straits from, 11 ; stay at, 161 ; 

last look of, 488 
Anous stolidus, 32 
Antelope, Sumatran, 172 
Antennarii, 23 
Anthracocerus convexus, 252 
Anthers, two forms of, in Melastoma, 

229 
Anthropomorphous apes, resemblance 

of the Kubus to the, 243 

35 



Anthus medius, 459 

Auis inhabiting Myrmecodia and fly- 

nophytum, 79; at species of Rafflesi- 

acex, 206; milking winged Hemip- 

tera, 251 
Appias new. note on coloration of sexes 

of, 130 
Apis dormta, habits of, 478 
Aprosmidus buruensis, 393 
Araliida Hills, 1 
Arachis hypogaea, 392 
ArborophiUx personata, 172 
Argus pheasants, 130; habits of, 131 
Arms of Timorese, 463 
Am, touch at, 300 
Ait, unknown to the Kubus, 236; 

among Timor-Ian t islanders. 317 
Artaxa eimulans, mimicry of, '173 
Artistic taste among Solorese, 285 
Artocarpui incisa, 3:>1, 438 
Arundina speciosa, fertilisation of, 88, 

91-94, 96 
Asparagus racemosus, 471 
Astictopterus arum In*. 215 
Attack on our house at Fatunaba, 460 

Babirusa in Burn, 407 ; native account 

of its habits, 407 
Badui, curious race of people in Java. 

102, 103 
Baguala, Bay of, 290 
lialai, the, a Lampoiig institution, 140 : 

description of-, 141; equivalent ol m 

Buru, '.'< 1 1 
Balik sumpa, superstitions attaching to 

this tre ■. 228 
Ball, foot-, in the Lampongs, 149 
Baluai of Amboina, 293 
Bauhinia, great beauty of, 252 
Bantam, Sultan of, ill; influence of, 

in the Lampongs, 111; mads in, .V2; 

Sundunese in, 52 ; rice cultivation m, 

52 
Banteng, in Java, 1 16 
Bauda, lards in, 287 ; calls a1 
Bassia Bp., corollas of, 233 
Bastion, Prof., on Wok >] . H)2 



526 



INDEX. 



Batavia, description of, 5, 7 ; Chinese 
in, 7; Arabs in, 7 

Batrachians in Timor-laut, 337 

Bats in West Java, 71 

Batu-Brah, houses in the village of, 167 

Batu-Pantjeh, village of, 217; coial 
blocks near, 217 ; treatment received 
in, 217 ; houses in, 217 ; marriages 
in, 21S; games in, 219 

Beads, Timor, 285 

Beccari, Dr., 206 

Beddome, Colonel, on forest devasta- 
tion, 62 

Belenois, coloration of sexes of, 130 

Bell-birds, their plumage, 53 

Beueawang, stay at, 161 

Beo, or Javanese crackle, 72 

Bibi<;ueu, stay at, 449 ; view from, 453; 
houses in, 454 

Bigin Telok, stay at village of, 253 

Bird life on the ilupit river, 23S 

Buds, near Dilly, 421, 422; near Sauo 
in Timor, 434 ; of Burn, list of, 409 ; 
at sea, 4, 5 ; of Keeling Island, list 
of, 44 : of Sumatra, list of, 268 ; of 
Timor-laut, list of, 355; at Wakolo 
Lake, 408 

Bird's excreta mimicked by spider, 63 

Birgnslatro, habits of, 27 

Births, illegitimate, in Passumah, 197 ; 
in K'sam, 182 

Blacksmiths, native, in Java, 66 

Blood-money, law as to, 145 

Blood brotherhood, ceremony of, in 
Timor, 452 

Bock, Carl, collected bir.ls in Suma- 
tra, 268 

Boca treubii, 251 : description of, 270 

Bombus senex, 208; fertilising Melas- 
toma, 228 

Bonnier, 31., observations on Sambuc us, 
226 

Bos banleng in Java, 116 

Botia micranthus, 177 

Botys dedudalis, 172 

Boulenger, Mr., on reptiles and batra- 
cbians from Timor-laut, 368 

Brachypteryx atratus, 209 

Mracken ferns, 397 

Bread-fruit trees atTengah-teng.ih, 292 

Britten, Mr. J., on Timor plants, 499 

Brocken, Spectre of the, 213 

Brown's, R., plants from Timor, 497 

Brugmansia lowii, 154 

Brugmansia, new species of, 200 

Bryophyllum calycinum, notes on leaves 
of, 82 ; 

Bubulcus coromanthis, 111 

Buceros, spp., 130; gcdeatus, 152; 
anatomy of its casque, 1 53 

Buchnera, new species of, 430 



Buffalo-birds, 55 

Buffaloes in Timor-laut, 312, 336 

Buitenzorg, beauty of, 8 ; its surround- 
ing scenery, 9 ; its botanical garden, 9 

Bumi-padang, halt at, 166 

Biirck, Dr., observations of, on pollen of 
Melastoma, 22.) ; on Myrmscodia and 
Hydnophytinn, SO 

Burial rites in Kisam,182 ; in Timor, 435, 
405 ; and places in Timor-laut, 322 ; 
in Bum, 404, 405 ; in Passumah, I'Jd 

Burlings, the, 1 

Bum, Ale'furus of, 392; dispersion of 
Polynesian races from, 392 ; birds in, 
393, 394; villages in, 394; houses 
in, 395; marriage lites in, 404; 
death and burial rites in, 404, 405 ; 
superstitions in, 405 

Butler, Mr. A. G , on Lepidoptera from 
Timor-laut, 375, from Sumatra, 276 

Butorides jai^aniea, 111 

Butterflies collected in Timor-laut, 375 

Buxton, Mr. E. C, collected birds in 
Sumatra, 268 

Cacatua sulphurea, 421 

Calardlie veratri folia, fertilisation of, 

84 ; falsely cleistogamous, 85 
Calcareous rocks near Liguani river, 481 
Callidryas, coloration of the sexes of, 130 
Callidula javanica, 172 
Call i plea visenda, 325 
Calodraco jacqninii, 169 
Caloperdix oculea, 226 
■Cambodia, 9 
Cambridge, Eev. O. P., on a new genus 

of spiders, 63,119-121 
Campanulacese in Timor, 430 
Canals in Batavia, 5 
Canihecmna cognata, 111 
Capricomis sumatrensis, 172 
Captain of the Chinese in Amboina, 

kindness of, 2SS 
Carpnphaga concinna, 287 
Carriage, a, in the village of reDgan- 

donah, 1S4 
Carruthers, Mr. W., F.R.S , on Timor 

ferns, 522 
Cattleyas, 10 

Cethosia Carolina, new species, 274 
Cephalanthera grand/flora, fertilisation 

of, 85 
Cerbera lartarea, C. odollam, food- 
plants of Ornithoptera?, 231 
Cerillo Pe.ik, 191* superstitions about, 

192 
Cervus liippelaplms, 31 ; equinus, 31 
Cethosia lamarclcii, 470 
Ceyx cajeli, 393 

Chatodon in Keeling lagoon, 24 
Chanapa sacerdos, 325 



INDEX. 



527 



Charaxes euryolus, 295 

Charm in rice-fields, 170 

Chase, the, in Bum, 396 

Children's games in Timor-laut, 321, 

322; in Java, 68 ; in Sumatra, 219 
Children, treatment of, in Timor-laut, 

315, 316, 321 ; use of dol's bv, in 

Timor-laut, 321 
Chrysoglossum sp., fertilisation of, 95 
Church at Wai, imposing interior of, 

294 
Cinchona plantations in Java, 103 
Cinchona ledgeriana, 108; suscirubra, 

109 
Cinnyrii hassdti, description of, 220 
C intra, 1 

Cissa thalassina in Java, 115 
Cladonia vulcanica, 114 
' Claik-sheaf ' of Scotland, 170 
Classification, scientific, among the 

Sundanes 3 , 54 
Cleietogamnus fertilisation of coffee, 75 ; 

of chrysoijlossum, 95 
Clinteria forbesi, new specie-, des rip- 

tion of, 496 
Clitorea tematensis, 2S4 
Cloth, native, in Bum, 404: water- 
proofed by the natives, 404 
Clothing of the Kubus, 23 i 
Cloud-effects, 12 

Coat-of-arms in Padjar-bulan, 180 
Cock-fight in Sumatra, 188, 1S9 
Cocoa-nut crab, 27; palms, 29 
Cocos-Keeling Islands, start for, 11; 

first impressions of, 12; object of 

author's visit to, 13 ; narrative of the, 

colony in, 13; proclamations of, as 

English territory, 16 
Ccelopsfrithii, 71 

Coffee-gardens at Kosala, Java, 70 
Coffee, loss on from drought in Java, 75 
Coiffures in Timor-laut, 307, 308 
Coleoptera, from Timor laut, 370 
Cold, effect on the natives of, 158; on 

the Dempo, 212 
Coleoptera of Keeling Islands, 30 
Coloration of Appias new, 130 ; Catop- 

silia, 130; Hebomoia glaucippe, 130; 

of Ganoris, 130 ; of Belenois, of //</- 

polymnas, 134 
Coloration, alluring, in a spider, 03 
Coral reef formation, in the Keeling 

Islands. 21, 36. 39 
Corals collected on Keeling Islands, list 

of, 44-17 
Corals killed by exposure to sun. 22 
Cordia subcordata, 26, 28; its 

buried by crabs, 26 
Commehjna nudiflora, 334 
Commersonia echinata, use of its bark, 

396 



Cosmoscarta juno, 277 
Cross-fertilisation, contrivance for se- 
curing, in Curcuma, 217; in Melas- 
toma, 229 
Cranial characters of the natives of 

Timor-laut, 340 
Crater-growing plants, 114 
Crayracion's, 2:; 
Creation, account of the, in Passumah 

Lands, 191 
Crime, how punished in Timor, 473 
Cringier gutturalis, 172 
Crustacea from Timor-laut, 382 
Crustacean action on coral mud-flats, 

25, 26, 27 
Culicicapa ceylonentis, 209 
Cultivation unknown to Kubus, 236 
Cunningham's, Allan, plants from Ti- 
mor, 497 
Curcuma zerum&et,contrivance for cross- 
fertilisation of, 217 
Currents, sea, in the Indian Ocean, 28 
Cuscus, how caught at Paso, 291 ; 

eaten ly pythons, 291 
Cyclones in Keeling Islands, 17, 30 
Cymbidium tricolor, fertilisation i 
stapeloidi s, fertilisal 
83 
Cynthia Juliana, curious habit of, 138 
Cyphogastra splendent, 303 
Cyrestis irmx, new speci< s, 274 
Cyrestis sp. found near Hoodjoong, 172 ; 

percander, 137 
Cyrtostachys rendu, a beautiful palm, 9 

Dammar trade at Gunung Trang, 1S5, 

136 
Dampier, his account of Tra>si. 61 ; his 

voyage to, and his plants from Timi r, 

497 
D.ma, Prof., on coral-reefs, 36 
Dances in the Limponga, 146, 149 
Dangerous visit (o Waitidal, 327 
Darwin*s, Mr. C, visits to Keeling 

Islands, 15, 28; collection of plants 

in Keeling Islands, 28, 42 
Datura, 108 
Death rites in Timor-laut. 322 ; in the 

Passumah Lands, 199; in Burn, 404 
Deformation of head in Timor-laut, 316 
Demini, Colonel, 108 
it, miegretta sacra, 33 
Dempo volcano, plants of, 206, 

208 210; birds on, 2j7, 210, 212: 

cold on, 212 
Dendrobium secundum, 208 : phaumop- 

sis, 335; ahtennatum, 335; chrysan- 

thum, fertilisation of, cru- 

menatum, fertilisation of, s l 
Dendroci/gna guttata, al Wa 1 ake, 

406 



528 



INDEX. 



Denudation, effects of, 174 

Detritus of rivers, 185 

Dewa, curious petition to the, 230 

Dialects of East Timor, 490 

Difficulties with natives of Paso, 207 

Digits, reduplication of, among Kudus, 
241 

Dilly, call at, 286; arrival at, 416; 
effects of fever there, 415 ; look tor a 
site for a house near, 416 ; different 
races in, 418; birds near, 421, 422; 
the aspect of the town, 41 ; leave, 
485; new Vaccinium near, 422 

Diphyllodes respublica, 286 

Diptem from Timor-laut, 380 

Dipteris horsfleldi, 78, 158, 397 ; in cra- 
ters, 114; distribution in Java, 114 

Dipterocarpem, 247, 252 

Dirge, death-, 223 

Diopma, Kteling Islands, 31; Dempo, 
212 

Disquieting insignia at Timor-laut, 303 

Distant, Mr. W. L., descriptions of 
Sumatran Ehynchota, 211 

Ditmar, Prof., on composition of sea 
water, 36 

Diuris Fryana, 430 

Djambi, Avish to enter, 240; refused 
entrance into, 250 

Dugs kept bv the Karangs. 100 ; by the 
Kudus, 236 

Doliclws lahlab, used as food, 438 

Dolls used by children in Timor-laut, 
321 

Doves, pink-headed, 72 

Dragon-fly mimicked by a butterfly, 139 

Dress, royal, in Timor, 44T ; of Soiorete, 
285 ; of Timorese, 462 ; of natives 
of Timor-laut, 312, 313 ; of Passu- 
mahers, 195 

Drosera lunata, 422 

Drought in Java in 187S, loss from, 75 

Drysdale, Mr., in Timor Cupang, 284 

Duperry's plants from Timor, 497 

Durian trees, 240 ; fruit eaten by tigers 
and elephants, 240 

D'Urville's plants from Timor, 498 

Dwellings of Timor-laut islandcis, in- 
terior of, 318 

Dyes among Timorese, 463 

Earthquake, in Java, 63; in Keeling 
Islandsin 1834,23; in Keeling Islands 
in 1876, 22 ; wave, Keeling Islands, 
19 ; at the Kaba, 225 

Earthenware objects from Kosala, 98, 99 

Earthworms, great size of turrets o:, 
227 

Eclectus intermedins, 393 

Egewn, visit of SB., to Timor-laut, 301 

Egeron Strait, 301 



Elephants in Sumatra, 165 ; fond of 

Durian, 210 
Eleusine coracana, 392 
Englishmen, their repute in Sumatra, 

204 
Eos reticlata, 304 
Epacridiuex, new species of, 438 
Eria javensis, fertilisation of, 95; albi- 

do-tomentosa, fertilisation of, 94 
Erlura, camp at, 428 
Estrelda flavidiventris, 422 
Euchirus longimanus, 291 
Eudynamis ransomi, 393 
Enmenes visiting Sambucus, 227 
Eupleea ochsenlieimeri, curious habits of, 

138 
Furhinia fulva, 172 
Enschemidee, species of, mimicking Oph- 

thalmis sp., 173 
Eusemia belangeri,udo\ir emitted by, 173 

Fah-hian, Chinese pilgrim, 97 

Fail y blue-bird, 67 

Falls of river Semnngka, 167 

Famine in Ulak-Tandjong region, 233 

Fatuboi, visit to, 469 ; description of, 

409 
Fatunaba hills selected for a house, 417, 

420 ; beautv of the view from, 421 
Fawcetr, Mr. W., on Timor plants, 506, 

515; description of new Vaccinium, 

278 
Febrifuges used in Timor-laut, 330 
Fertilisation oi Nelastuma by Bombus, 

228 
Fertilisation of Myrmerodia and Hydno- 

plnjtum, 80; of orchids, 82-97 
Fertilisation of Sambucus, note on, 22G, 

227 
Fever, dangcrou3 malarial in Timor- 
laut, 330 
Ficus aspera, 11 ; cordifolia, 77 ; vni- 

crocarpa, 11 ; amplas, 11 ; radicans, 

77 ; politoria, 11 
Fields of Buruese tabooed, 403 
Fig-trees, beauty of, 77 
Fight, cock-, 188 
File-fishes in Keeling lagoon, 24 
Fire in herbarium drying-house in 

Timor-laut, 336 
Fishes most eaten in Java, GO 
Fish-preserves in rice-fields, 170 
Fiies on Keeling Islands, 31 ; on Tcn- 

gamus, 159; on Dempo, 210; at 

species of Bafflesiacew, 206 
Floating block of land, 486 
Floods, effect of, on Rupit valley, 239 ; 

in river Ogan, 185 
Flora at Fatuboi, 470 ; of the Kaba, 

232 ; along Eawas river, 251 ; along 

Rupit river, 237, 238 ; on volcanic 



INDEX. 



529 



mountains in Java, 78 ; on Tengamus 
mountains, 157, 158; richness of 
temperate, 1 ; a temperate, in Timor, 
440 
Flora: Timorensis Prodromy,*, 497 
Flowers in tropics, 251, 257; floating 

on river, 251 
Flowers and fruit, scarcity of on tiers in 

Java, 75 
Fluggea microcarpa, 206 
Flying-fox, long journeys of, 32 
Forbes, Mrs., joins me in Batavia, 283 ; 
aids me in Amboina, 291 ; great 
favourite with the natives of Timor- 
laut, 300 ; left at Fiitunaba, 426, 427 ; 
bad news from, 478 ; extract from 
her journal, 482 
Foreign influences in Burn, 401 
Franca, da, Major 283; Mr. Bcnto, 

416; Madame, 48-1, 487 
Fremantle, Capt. (II. M.S. Juno), pro- 
claims Keeling Islands English terri- 
tory, 16 
Forest-devastation in Java, 62; in Su- 
matra, 132 
Frencli marigold, 440 
Frigate-birds, habits of, 32 
Frogs in trees and thatch at Paso, 292 
Functions, different, of anthers in 

Melastoma, 229, 230 
Fruit, scarcity of, on trees in Java, 75 
Fungoiel disease on trees in Java, 70 ; 

in Timor, 76 
Future state, ideas of Pacsumaiiers as 

to, 200 
Galium, 440 

Gamc.3 of children in Batu Pautjeb, 
219 ; in Timor-laut, 321 ; in Lam- 
pongs, 149 
Game-cocks in Hoodjoong, 171 
Ganoris, coloration of sexes of, 130 
Garson, Dr J. G., on the cranial cha- 
racters of natives of Timor-laut, 340 ; 
on the Kubus of Sumatra, 243, 261 
Gaudichauel's plants from Timor, 497 
Gaultheria leucocarpa in craters, 114; 

punctata in craters, 114; repens, 78 
Gecarcinus, habits of, 2 / 
Geelong-tefahan, in Sumatra, stay at, 
120-139; attacked by a tiger near, 
128 
Geikie, Dr. A., F R.S., on coral reefs, 

40 
Gelpke, Dr. Solewijn, collection of stone 

implements of Java by, 67 
Gelashnus, fields of, 294 ; habits of 

species of, 25, 26 
Gelan, Wai, village of, in Burn, 395 
Genteng, in Bantam, stay at, 53 
Geological structure of Kornai valley, 
432 ; of Kaimauk river, 433 ; of Vc- 



birah river, 479; Btrata near Muara- 
Dua, 179; of Samoro valley, 471 ; of 
Rawas region, 249; of Karan«r-nata 

Peak, 251 
George's, King, uniform in the Passu- 

mail Lands, 204 
Geocichh machild, :v.',~ 
Gcssir. visit to, 299 
Geyser of the 1), mpo, 211 

Gibbons in Java, 70 

GU icllt llill, 7S 

Gloriosa euperba, in T'mor, 171 

Gluta beiujhas, escharotic effect of its 

sap, 113 
Gold-mines in Rawns region, 219 
Gold-searching ceremonies in Timor 

467 
Gold in Timor rivers, 407; in Kupit 

river, 239 
Gold coins refused by natives of Timor- 
laut, why, 306 
Coitre in Hoodjoong, 171 ; its supj os rj 
cause, 171 ; in the Kawus district, 
171 ; in Timor, 468 
Goodyera procera, fertilisation of, 96 
Gordon/a excelsa, 207 
Gorges, singular in Passumah Lands. 

192 
Gossypium micranthum, 403 
Governor of Portuguese Timor, 283; 

286 
Grace of Timor-laut islanders, 322 
Gracnlajaram usis, notes on, 72 
Grackle, Javanese, 72 
Grave-yard trees in Sumatra, 169 
Guichenot's plants from Timor, i'.'l 
Gunung-Megang, burial-ground of, 182 
Gunung-Tiang, pepper trade of, i::5 
Gygis Candida, piloted by, 12, nesting- 
place, 31 

Habenaria Susannas, fertilisation of, 

296, 423 

Hair, manner of arranging in Timor- 
laut, 307; vanity of men about, 
307 ; cap rne.-s to bave it cu 
Timor-!aut, 30J ; superstitious i< 
our possessing Bcraps of their, 309; 
character of, m Timor-laul is!;i:i<h rs, 
309; ofBurueseat Wakolo Lake, 402 

JIalicore auetralis, 33G 

Halobates (water bugs , 12 

Hanjuang trees, 169 

Hare, Mr. Alexander, and his relatl 

with Mr. .I.e. Boss, II 
Hnrgitt, Mr., on Miglyptes, 56 
Harvesting in Timor, 151 , near IIooI 

j iong, !">•, 171 
Hats, Bantamese, 5'.'; Og 

Solorese, 285 
Head-flattening in Time 



530 



INDEX. 



Head-hunting in Timor, 450 
Hebomoia, coloration of sexes of, 130 
Hemileia, coft'ee disease, 71, 76 
Hemiptera, winged, milked by ants, 

251 ; of Keeling Islands, 31 
Henslow, Prof., Mr. Darwin's Keeling 

plants described by, 28, 42 
Herbarium at Wakolo lake left behind, 

407; disaster to, made in Timor- 

laut, 334 
Herodias nigripes, 33 
Herons in Keeling Islands, 33; killed 

by glutinous seeds, 30 
Hesperiidse, habits of butterflies of 

family, 03 
Het erodes ansonialis, 177 
Hoodjoong, village of, 109 
House at Fatunaba attacked, 460 ; 

difficulty in getting a, in Timor-laut, 

305; cluster in the Komai valley, 

431; in Bum, 395 
Home's, Sir Everard, plants from Timor, 

498 
Homopsyche, the genus, 172 
Honey-eaters, 304; in Buru, 338; in 

Ceram, in Timor, 33S 
Honey, scarcity of, in Java in 1S78, 75 
Honey-glands on Sambucus, 226. £27 
' Honour door,' order of the, 146 
Hornbill, Great, 153, 154 
Hushand clans in Timor, 457 
Huts in trees, their use, 431, 434 
Hi/aJobates leuciscus, 70 ; variegatus, 

156 
Hymenoptera of Keeling Islands, 31 ; 

from Timor-laut, 380 
Hydnophytum formicarium, 79, SO, 81 
Hydroaisa albriostris, 154 
HydrocicMa ignicapillus, 154 
Hypericum sp. in Java, 1 12 
Hypolymnas anomala, note on colouring 

of, 134 ; forbesi, 325 ; ivallaceana, 134 
Hypotxiu'dia striata, 177 
Hypoxia liygrometrica, 447 

Iusect fauna, of Sumatra, additions to, 

274 ; of Keeling Islands, 30 
Insects carried by cyclone, 30 
Irene turcosa, 67 
Ixias flaviperinis, new species, 215, 275 

Journal, Mrs. Forbes', extract from, 482 
Jauson, Mr. Oliver, description of a now 
species of Cetoniidsa by, 496 

Kaba, crater of the, 230, 231; hot 

springs at, 225 
Kaimauk river, 439 
Kajeli, arrive at, 391 ; description of 

town and fort, 391 ; trade of, 392 
Kajuput oil, 392 



Kaleobar, hostility of the villagers of, 
304 

Kallima spiridiva, new species, 274 

Kamp. Mr. Controller, 234, 240 

" Kang-kang " frog, mimicry by, 155, 
164 

Karang-Nata Peak, flora of, 251 ; geo- 
logy of, 251 

Karangs or Kalaugs, a curious tribe 
at Kosala, 99 ; their worship, 99 ; 
curious customs of, 100 

Ke, touch at, 300 

Keeling Islands, see Cocos-Kceling 
Islands 

Keane, Mr., on ethnical relations of 
the people of Timor-laut, 311 

Kelehoho, rest at Mount, 430 

Kenali, village of, 167; crops in 
neighbourhood of, 167 ; soil near, 
167 ; houses in, 168 

Kepala Tjurup, camp at, 225, 

Kerivoula javana, 71 

Kf-ro, or thief gibbet, 472, 473 

Kisam writing, 181 ; versification, 181 ; 
dress, 182 ; religion, 182 ; burial cus- 
toms, 182 ; oaths, 182 ; houses in, 179; 
coat of arms in a Kisam village, 180 

King, death rites of a, in Timor, 437 

King, Dr. George, his m< nogiaphou the 
figs, 517 

Kirby, Mr. W. F., on Hymenoptera and 
Diptera from Timor-laut, 380 

Komai, valley of the, 430 ; house- 
cluster in, 431 

Kosala, in Bantam, 97 ; ruins at, 98 ; 
the estate-house of, 59 ; iu the Deccan, 
97 ; in Sarayu, 97 

Kotta-djawa, village of, in Sumatra, 131 

Krakatoa eruption, 77 ; earthquake, 
wave of, 126; volcano, 4S8 

Kubus, a f«rest-living race in Sumatra, 
233, 234 ; intelligence of 242 ; phar- 
macopoeia of, 243 ; traditions of, 243; 
pedigree of, 244 ; death rites of, 243 ; 
their manner of trading, 235 ; no cul- 
tivation among, 236 ; no arts among, 
236; clothing of, 236; dogs kept 
by, 236; features of, 236; physical 
characteristics of, 241, 242 ; language 
of, 241; marriage among, 241; in- 
termarriage with Malays, 241 ; pro- 
perty of, 242 

Kuing (or sacred) region in Buru, 397 

Laccadive archipelago, 4 

Laclo, Bajah's of, account of, 480 ; priso- 
ners at, 480 

Lagerstrcemia, 238 

Laibobar Peak, 332 

Laicor, Kajah's of. 479 ; dwellings at, 
479 



INDEX. 



531 



Lamihlx, description of a species of, 
276 

Lampongs, the, in S. Sumatra, female 
ornaments in, 12(3, 147 ; feasts in, 
147: marriage customs in, 150; its 
language, 141 ; alphabet and cha- 
racters, 142 

Lampongers, descent of, 141 ; titles 
among, 143 ; dances among, 146, 149 

Lamkitcs, mode of fighting of, 451 

Lamellusleucogrammicus in Java, 115 

Landslips as the effect of rain, 115 

Lantana, flowers of, insects attracted 
by, 134 

Larat, gibbeted herein and members 
on the islet of, 302 

Larantuka, call at. 2S4 

Lash, Mr. H., his kindness and aid, OS 

Lata, the curious disease called, 6'.', 70 

Land, block of floating, 480 

Lawang Koree, order of, 146 

Laws in Timor, 456 

Layard, E. L., on weaver-birds, 57 

Ledger's, Mr., account of introduction 
of cinchona seeds, 10!) 

Leisk, Mr., at the Keeling Islands, 15 

Leobarbus, species of, 177 

Lepar, Sumatran game, 211) 

Lepidoptera from Timor-laut, 375; of 
Keeling Islands, 31 

Leptocircus virescens mimics a dragon- 
fly, 139. 

Leptoptilus, in Sumatra, 177 

Lepturus repens, aid of, in I eel aiming 
land from the sea, 26 

' Les Nectaires ' (M. Bonnier), 226 

Life on the Sumatran rivers, delights 
of, 257 

Liguani river, 480 

Liminitis boclcii. 215 

Limun, tbe gold of, 219 

Linga and Yoni, worship of, at Kcsala, 
101 

Linsang gracilis, caught swimming, 255 

Lintang river, raft journey on, 215; 
scenery along, 216 

Liparidx, mimicrv in, 173 

Lohita grandis, 111 

Lomaptera timorensis, 417 

" Long-age " whortleberry, 210 

Ludicrous procession in Sumatra, 175 

Lull, or taboo, 431 ; Uma-Luli, the 
sacred institution of the Timorese, 
424 

Lulied ground, as rich botanical pre- 
serves, 454 

Luminosity of the forest, wonderful, 
164 

Luntar, village of, 183 ; feast in, 183 

Lusciniola fuliginiventris. 212 

Macacus cynomologus in Timor, 471 



Macliik, Dr. and Madame, their kind- 
ness, in Sumatra, 126; in Amboina, 
299, 339, ti 8 

Mariner Inlet, New Guinea, behaviour 
of natives of, 300 

Mafra, 1 

Macrophthalmus, 25 ; habits of, 20 

Mahori races, dispersion of, from Bum, 
392 

Malay dignity, 210 

Malays, intermarriage of, with Eubus, 24 

Malay bear, 255 

Malawar, Mount, in Java, 108 

Maldive Archipelago, 1 

Mammalia of Sumatra, .Air. Wallace 
on, 105 

Mammalia in Keeling Islands, 31 

Mangifera fcetida, 239 

Marga, Sumatran communal division, 
142; its laws, 142 ; its divisions. 143 

Markham's. Mr. Clements K., cinchona 
mission, 110 

Market, native, in Bantam, 59; in 
Timor, 401 

Marriage customs, in Batu-Pantjeh, 
218; curious, in Timor, -157; in 
Lampongs, 150; and rites in Tiiiur- 
laut, 315; in Bum, 404; the cere- 
mony among Passumahers, 196 

Marriage, author's, 283 

Maru, my men piay a collecting visit to, 
329 

Matriarchal descent, evidences of, in 
Lampongs, 151 ; in Passuinah Lands, 
196 ; in Timor, 457 

Matdkau, sacred edifice in Bum, ami 
contents of, 395 

Matches, paraffin, wide use of, 152 

Maukuda river, 440 

Mauvais quart d'heure, in Timor-laut, 
330 

Megacriodes forbesii, 276 

M, galophrys nasuta mimics dead leaves, 
155 ; in coitu, 155 

Megalurus amboinemis. 295 

Mi lanitii suradeva, 172 

Melastoma, its fertilisation, 229: on 
the Kaba, 228 

Melettia, -I'M 

Menado, call at. 486 

Meropsphilippinus, 1 ; mmatranus, 217 

Mefroxyton lilun . 393 

Meyer, Dr. A. B., on birds from Timor- 
laut, 355 

Microhierax fringillariw, 56 

Miers, J., Mr., on cruatacea from Timor- 
laut. 382 

Miglyptes trUtis, 56; gramminithora*, 
5 i 

Migration of snipe, 34; tcal,34; weaver- 
bird, 34 



532 



INDEX. 



Mimicry anions; Lepidoptera, 139, 173 ; 

in birds, additional example of, 338 ; 
. in a spider, 63 
Missionaries, Catholic. 480 
Mitrosacme sp., 452 
Mixture of races in Timor-laut, 311 
Moens', Dr., experiments on cinchona; 

109 
Months, names of the, in Timor, 489 
Muara-Dua, trade of the town of, 178 ; 

geological strata near, 179 
Muara-Inim, town o", its importance, 

191 
Muaia-Mengkulem, sojourn ft, 2. 
Muara-Rupit, town of, 239 ; its impor- 
tance, 239, 240 
Midler, Fritz, on fertilisation of Melas- 

toma, 229 
Midler's, H , observations on Sambu- 

cus, 22G 
Munia pallida, 422 
Muntolc, call at, 260 
Murray's, Mr. J., theory of coral reefs, 

36, 37, 40 
Muroeaoids, 23 
Mussainda frondosa, 422 
Musical performance in Burn, 3^0 
Mydaus, badger-headed, distribution 

of, in Java, 115 
Mtjdausmeliceps, 114; distribution of, 

115 
Myiagra aaleata, 234 
Myophoneus melanura, 172 ; dicrorhyn- 

clius, 172 
Myristicivora bicolor, 295 ; melanurj, 

393 
Myrmecodia tuJyerosa, 79 : sp., 295 
Myzomela annabellie, 338 ; vulnerata, 

422 ; ivalioloens's, 403 

Napal-litjin, village of, 250 

Natives of Amboina, chaiacter of, 292 

Native names for plants, 54, 55 

Nectaries, floral, 22G ; long, of Habena- 
ria, 296 - 

Negiito race, Kubus not of the, 244 

Negritoes in Timor, 407 

JSfene Poyang, or stem-forefather, re- 
verence of, in Passumah, 19S ; in 
Taadjong-N'ing 224; oath over his 
grave-stone, 2^4 

New Guinea, land in Macluer Inlet 
in, 30J 

Ni-opsittaciis euteles, 421 

Neosalica forbesi. 277 

Nepenthes phyllamphom, 78 

Nicholson, Mr. F., Papeiss in Ibis on 
Sumatran birds, 56. 268 

Nobility, the, of the Lampongers, 145, 
148 

Nocturnal habits of Apis dorsata, 478 



Nutmegs, the gathering of, 287 ; a 

delightful article of trade, 286 
Nutmeg, gardens of, in Bauda, 2S6 
Nyctiomis amicta, 129 
Nycticorax caledouicus, 33 
Nymphalidse, new, from Sumatra, 274 

Oaks on Rupit river, 237 ; o:i Rawas 

river, 252 
Oaths, of Kisam people, 1S2 ; among 

the Passumahers, 193 ; in Burn, how 

taken, 395 ; taken over a stone, 198 ; 

in a circle on the ground, 199 ; by 

drinking water, 395 
Observation, powers of, among Suu- 

dancse, 54 
Ocypoda, habits of, 26 
Odour emitted by Euscmia belangeri, 

173 
Condang-oondang (or laws of the 

Marga), 142 
Ogan valley, calcareous hills in . 185 ; 

carvings, 186 
Ogan river, 183, 184 
Ophrys apifera, fertilisation of, S5, 95 
Ophthalmis lincea, mimicry of, 173 ; 

decipiens. mimicry of, 173 
Orchid feitilisation, S2-97 
Orders among the Lampongers, 145 
Oreodoxa, oleracea, 10 
OreScius gouldi, 172 
Oriolus decipiens, 337 ; buruensis, 393 ; 

maculatas, 56 
Ornaments of Passumahers, 195 ; of the 

Lampongers, 147 ; in Timorddu', 

313; of the Timorese, 462 
Ornithoptera bmokeana, 227 ; priamus, 

291 ; remus, 291 ; amplirijsus, 139 
Ornithoptera at Paso, 29i ; feed on 

Cerbera flowers, 291 
Omitlioscato'ides decipiens, new genus 

and species of spider, 63, 119, 120,210 
Orthoptera of Keeling Islands, 31 
Osteological characters of Kubus of 

Sumatra, 243, 244, 261 
Ostrxn, fossil, in Java, 63 

Padang-Ulak-Tandjong, village of, 225 

Padjar-bulan, carvings and coat of arms 
in village of, 180 

Paganism in the upland plateaus ff 
Sumatra, 191 ; in Passumah, 198 

Palzeornis longicauda, 247 

Palembmg, arrival at, 257 ; construc- 
tion of the town, 257, i60 ; population, 
259 ; trade, 259 ; rivers o'', 178 

Fandanus ccramicus, 403 ; heliocopus, 
255 

Pandans on the Kaba, 232 

Pangolin, habits of, 115 

Panjrium-trees, load of fruit on the, 238 



INDEX. 



538 



Panaethia simulans, mimicry by, 173 
PangJcat, or title in the Lampongs, 
144 

Panthous coealus. 277 ; talus, 277 
Panfjalan, or native boats, how made, 

255 
Papilionidee, new, from Sumatra, 274 

Papilio forbesi, 177, 27f> ; albolineatus, 
new species, 275 ; itam-puti, new 
species, 177, 276; saturnus, 27G; 
diaphantus, 215; aberrans, 303; 
idysses, 295 

Papuans in Timor, 4Go 

Paraffin matches, wide- u s o of, 152 

Parus timorensis, 459 

Paso, stay at, 289; its Eajab, 290; 
superstitions > t, 290 

Paspaltim, species of grass, 42S 

Passumah Lands, appearance of, from a 
distance, 192 ; gorges ia, 192 ; de- 
s^ent of the inhabitants, 194; thea- 
trical performances in, 194 ; account 
of the creation in ihe, 194 

Passumahers, dress of, 195 ; ornaments 
of, 195 ; marriage among, 196 ; re- 
ligion of, 198; ouths of, 198; their 
descent, 194; mental and physical 
eharacterictics of, 195; death customs 
of, 199 

Passumah-Ulu-Manna, 201 

Pan, on the Dempo, 193; stay at, 255 

Peak of Laibobar, 332 

Pecten, fossil, in Java, 63 

Pemplns acidida, aid of, in reclaiming 
land from sea, 26, 2S 

rengandonun, \illagc of, 185 

Penanggungan, stay at, 139 

rengelengan, village in Java, 103 

Pentacitrotus transversa, 172 

Pepadun, the order of the, 145 

Pepper trade in S. Sumatra, 127; 
at Gunung Trang, 135 

Periophthalmus, 294 

Peristylis viridis, fertilisation of, 85 

Petrsea arborea, occurrence of, in Java, 
78; in Timor, 78 

Persecution of Papilionidse by Pieridsz, 
134 

Petrxovitex in Buru, 514 

Petroleum, wide use of, 152 

1'liajus blumei, fertilisation cf, S5-8 ? , 
94 

Phalivnopsis dmaMlis. 1 Q;grandi flora, 10 

Phallic worship at Kosala, 101 

Phaeton candidus, 33 

Pheidole javana, ant inhabits? Myr- 
mecodia and Hydnopliytum, 79, 81 _ 

Philemon, 304 ; timorlaoens/s. 42 1 . 337 ; 
moluccensis, 393 ; timoren'is, 421 

Phosphorescence in the Amboina Bay, 
296 



Phragmataecia arundinis, 17s 
Piertdm fertilising Sambucus, 227; as 

persecutors of Papilionidm, 134 
Pig-roasting in Boru, 398 
Pisonia inermis on Keeling Islands, 

30; its seeds carried by birdB, 30, 

33 ; seeds fatal to birds, 30 
Pitcher-plants, 78 
Pitta n nusta, 226 
Plants from 'limor laut, list of, 354 
Plants of Keeling Island, list of, 42, 43 
Plantago major in .lava, 112 
l'lati/lophus eoronatus, 67; galerieula- 

tus, 67 
Ploceus hypoxanthus migrating to Keel- 
ing Island, 34 ; rest of, 56 
Pnoepyga pusilla, 207 
Poisoned water, outburst of, in Keeling 

Island, 19. 40 
Pni.-onous fishes, 24 
Polia tus humilis, 252 
Pollen, different kinds of. from different 

forms of anther in Meiastomo, 229 
Polyandry doubtful in Pomatorhinui 

montanus, 72 
Polynesian laces, dispersion of, 392 
Polynesians in Timor, 466 
Pohjplectron chalcururns, 172 
Pomatorhinus montanus, habits of, 72 
Pomali sign in Buru, 400 
Porphyrio melanopterus, 394 
Portuguese words in Malay, 
Portuguese language, permanence of, 

417 
Prisoners at Laclo, 480 
Protective resemblance in Ptihpue 

cinetus, 459 
Protoparee or lent alts, 423 
Pteropus, long journeys of, 32 
Piilopus einctus, 459; protective re- 
semblance of. 459; diadematus 287 ; 

liorphyreus, 72 ; tcallacii, 325 
Pumice-stone- tuff plateau near Kenali, 

16S ; pumice at Timor-lant, 332 
Python preys on discus, 292 

Quelch,Mr. J. J.,496; list of corals from 

Keeling Islands by, 41-17 
Qndta, SS. return to Europe in, 488 
Paces in Timor, US; red-haired race, 

464; Malays, 466 
Raffles, Sir Stamford, his memory in 

Sumatra, 201 ; Lady, Memoir i 

Stamford by, 268 
Rafflesia sp., 10 
Rafflesia arnoldi, 154 
Rafflesiacex, 215; new species i f. 206 
Rati journeys, on river Lintang, 215; on 

Musi river, 217 ; on Rupit r r< r, 237 
Rains, effect of heavy, in Keeling 

Islands, 40; denudiu U5 



534 



INDEX. 



Rain, effects of, 174 

Rah it, combined house and boat, 1S3; 
my, down Eawas and Musi, 252- 
2ti0; liow managed, 253; pleasures 
of a journey in, 255-257 ; dangers, 
255 ; price of a, 258 

It alius philippensis, 31 

Eanau district, chiefs of, 17G; lahe_of, 
176; temperature of lake of, 177; 
Eanau tobacco, 170 

Eats, plague of, at Fatunaba, 484 

Eawas region, dances of, 247; gold- 
mines in, 249; people of, 24G; dig- 
nified bearing of chiefs of, 240 

Eawas river, bird life along, 252 ; flora 
on banks, 251 

Ked-haired race in Timor, 461 

Eegal succession in Timor, 458 

Eeiuwardt's plants from Timor, 497 

Beligion of the Passumahers, 198 

Remigia virbia, moth at Fatunaba, 
423 

Remusatia vivipara, 470 

Eeptiles and batrachians from Tiinor- 
kut, list of, 368 

Ehinoceros in Sumatra, 158, 165 

Rhinocichla mitrata, 226 

Rhinococcyx curcirostris, 56; javensis, 
56 

Rhipidura rvfiventris, 459 

Rhododendron magniflorum, 208 ; re- 
tusum, in craters, 114; tubiflorum, 
159; malayanum, 159 

Rhynchota, description of, from Sumatra, 
277 

Rhytidocerus siibrufficollis, 252 

Eiang Peak, its geological structure, 
185 

Eice cultivation in Bantam, 52 ; at Kot- 
ta-djawa, Sumatra, 131, 132; near 
Kenali, 168 

Eice, loss on, from drought, in Java, 75 

Eice-field charm, 170 

Eidlev, Mr. S. O., list of corals from 
Keeling Islands by, 44-47, 496 

Eidley, Mi'. H. N., description of new 
plants by, 513 

Eiedel, Eesident of Amboina, his con- 
duct towards us, 288 ; his action ne- 
cessitates our leaving the Moluccas, 
408; this repudiated by the Dutch 
Government, 408 ; his plants from 
Timor, 498 

Eiedkfs plants from Timor, 497 

Eitabel, camp in village of, 302 

Eoads in Timor, 428, 432, 433-, 467 

Eoss, Sir J. C, 15 

Eoss, Mr. G. C, 13 

Eoss, J. C., founder of Keeling Colony, 
15 

Rubus llneatus, 114, 208 



Eupit river, vegetation along, 237, 238 ; 
its bird life, 238 ; scenery along, 238 ; 
gold in, 239 

Saddle and bridle of Timorese, 449 

Saluki. visit to, 461 

Salvadori, Count, on Plutylophvs naleri- 

culatus, 67 ; on Bum birds, 409 
Sambucus javanica, 220, 227 ; visited 

by Eumenes, 227 ; visited by Pieridx, 

227 ; racemosa, 226 
Saparua, visit to, 299 
Sauo, curious rocks at, 433 ; house- 
cluster at, 435 
Sautier's plants from Timor, 497 
Sau:e berdundun, Passumah marriage 

service, 196 
Sawah mountains, 161 
Scarcity of flowers and fruits in trees i.i 

Java, 75 
Scars burned on limbs by natives of 

Timor-laut to ward of small-pox, 

313 
Scarus, 21 ; poisonous species of, 24 
Schizostachium durio, 471 
Scheffer, Dr., 51, 103 
Sciuropterus, 137 
Sclater, Dr. P. L., on Philemon, 338 ; on 

birds of Timor-laut, 355 
Sculptured figures in Passumah Lands, 

201,203; their origin, 202 
Sea, depth of, at mouth of Palcmbang 

river, 260 
Seals, native ideas about, 205 
Seeds buried by crabs, 26 
Sekaivang, corolla* of, 233 
Seleucides alba, 286 
Self-fertilisation in orchids, 85-67 
Semangka river, journey along the, 162 ; 

falls of, 167 
Semper, Prof., on coral reefs, 36, 37, 40 
Sero, or fish maise, 289 
Servants, difficulties with, at Fatunaba, 

423 
Sesaho, order of the, 146 
Setaria, species of grass, 428 
Sheep on Keeling Island, 31 
Siamanrja syndactyla, 70, 129 ; young 

tame, 156; its interesting habits and 

death, 160 
Sibia simillima, 226 
Sibissie, Peak of, 12 
Silicified trees in Java, 63 
Simotes forbesi, 337 
Siphia banjumas in Java, 115 
Slabung, bridge over the river, 178 
Slaves in Timor-laut, 312 
Smith, Christopher, his plants from 

Timor,' 497 
Snakes in Timor-laut, 337 
Snipe in Keeling Islands. 34 



INDEX. 



535 



Sobale, Mount (in Timor), ascent of, 
474 ; flora of, 475 : summit sacred, 
475 ; view from, 4TG 

Solorese in Cupang (Timor), 285 ; their 
dress, 285 ; artistic taste among, 285 

Songs, harvest, in Timor, 454 

Soporific powder, recipe for native, 245 

Sowing of the seed in Timor, ceremonies 
attending, 455 

Spanoglie's plants fiom Timor, 407 

Spnihoglottis plicata, fertilisation of, 
89-91 

Spectre of the Brocken, 213 

Spider, alluringly coloured, G3 

Spider-eater, 233 

Springs, hot, at Kaba, 225 

Stanley's, Captain Owen, account of 
Tim'or-laut, 301, 302 

StercuUa fcetida, 334 

Stone implements in Java, 07 

Stone, oath over a, 191) 

Sturnopastor ialla, habits of, 55 ; melan- 
opterus, habits of, 55 

Styrax subpanicuJatum, 207 

Sugar, loss on, from drought, in Java, 75 

Sukau, village of, 175 

Suku, or division of village in Sumatra, 
143 

Stria piscatrix, habits of, 32 

Sumatra, disposition of hill and plain 
in, 126 

Sunda Straits, 4 ; sunsets in the, 12 

Sundanese people, 52 ; language, 53; as 
naturalists, 54 

Superstitions, at Paso. 290; about Dem- 
po, 213; in Buru, 405; in Timor-laut, 
as to hair, 309; as to parting with rela- 
tive's cranium, 309 ; in Java about 
wild dogs; lib'; about krisses, 117; 
about trees, 137 

Surabaya, call at, 488 

Suringar, Prof., 8 

Surulangun, stay at, 240 ; meet Kubus 
at, 240 

Suya albigularis, 209 

Swangi or evil spirits, belief in, in Timor, 
429, 438 ; in Buru, 405 

Synanthemum in rice fields, 170 

Tahat (fresh- water ponds near Mount 

Dempo), 214 
Tahedu (dance) in Timor, 451 
Tachypetes minor, habits of, 32 
Tagetes patula, 440 
Tandjong-Ning, village of, 221 ; great 

forest near, 222 ; lose a man by a t'ger 

near, 222 
Tangalunga in Timor-laut, 312 
Tatooing in Timor-laut. 313 
Tea from Anaphalis, 210 
Teal in Keeling Islands, 34 



Tebbing-Tinggi. town of, 221 

Tchula, Mount, 430 

Telok-betong, town in Sumatra, 125, 
161 

Tenarit buruenm, description of, 411, 
396 

Tengamus, ascent of Mount, 139, 157 ; 
flora of, 158 

Teitgah-tengah, call at. 292 

Tenimber Islands (see Timor-laut) 

Terias laratensis, 325 

Terpsy phone ajjin is, 

Terraced hills at Kosala, 97 

Terratas, stay at, 157 

Ternstroemaeeie, 228 

Tetranthera citrata, 78. 228 

Teysmannia altifrons, 10 

Tevsmann, Mr., 9 ; his plants from 
Timor, 498 

Thieves' calendars, 244 

Theatrical performance, embryo, 194 

Theories as to coral reefs, .'!■'*> 

Thomas, Mr. O., on a new bat from Java, 
71,118 

Thomisus decipiens, »;:i 

Tii;ereatingDurian fruit, 240; attacked 
by a, 128 ; lose a man by n, 222 . tiger- 
trap, 223; persistence of, after quarry, 
223 ; wiliness of, 223 ; superstitions 
about, 224; hatred of, 224 

Tilu, Mount, in Java, 108 

Timorese the, their dyes, -163; great 
drunkards, 437, 4»J4; vendettaamong, 
464 ; character of the. 4 1 it. 42 1, 420 : 
food of the, 438; burial and death 
rites among, 437; anus of. 4G3; 
dress of, 462; ornaments of, 4<!2 ; 
carvings by, 4<!4; their sacred in- 
stitution of the Luli, 412 

Timor, East, territorial divisions of, 
425; dialects of, 425 ; description of 
country, 432, 433; dialects spoken 
in, 490 ; law in, how ex< rcised, 473 ; 
death and burial rites in. t35 

Timor-laut, start for. 298; first im- 
pressions of, 303; its flatness, 332; 
want of hills and Btreams, 332 ; de- 
rivation of name. 331; dangers in, 
304,327; hardships in, 338; pleasures 
in, 339: isolation when in. 339; in 
fauna, 336; reptiles in, 337; floral 
features <A\ 303, 331 : natural pro- 
ducts of, 300; frii ndlinessof nati 
305; mauvaia quart d'heure in. 330 

Timor-laut islanders, artistio ability nf, 
317: appreciate bright colours, 317; 
dwellings of, 318; great drunkard-, 
328 ; burial rites and places of, 322 ; 
stature, colour of skin, 310; I cialand 
cranial characters of. 310, 31 I, 340; 
moral characters of, 31 114,310, 



536 



INDEX. 



320; food of, 314; religion of, 314; 

marriage laws and rites of, 315 ; 

departure from, 339 
Tiolnnomon, pass through village of, 

140 
Titles in the Lampongs, 143 
Tjipanas hot springs, 67 
'] rachycomus ochrocephalus, 36 
Tradiu?, manner of, of the Kubus, 235 
" Trassi," native condiment, 60 
Trepsichrois mulciber mimicked by 

Amesia, 139 ; van-deventeri, new sp., 

274 
Treub's, Dr., observations on Mi/rme- 

codia and HydnbpJiytum, S2 
Trhtntalis europeea, 7S 
Trlngoides, 177 
Tropical vegetation, 128 
Tropic bird, 33 

Trogons, colour in feathers of, 172 
Turrets, earth-worm, 227 
Turskain, Rajah's of, flora near, 449 ; 

arrival at, 441 ; the Rijah of, 447 
Tweeddale, Lord, oa birds of Sumatra, 

2G8 

Uma-luli (in Timor), 442 ; account of, 

443-445, 447 
Upas tree, notes on, 112 
Urostigma microcarpum, 77 ; consoeia- 

tum, 77 
Urottigma trep, giant in Lampongs, 153 
Urtica ovali/olia, used to cure fatigue, 

397 

Vacciniacex near Dilly, 4'22 
Vacciniumjforibundum, in craters, 114 ; 

forbesi, a new s-pecics, 203, 210, 278 
Vania insignis, 471 
Van der Weide, Major, 408 
Van Djvtnter, Just'cc and Madame, 

408 
Vanity of men of Timor-laut about 

their hair, 307 
Versification in Kisam, 181 
View going up the Dempo, 210 
Vinca rosea, 2S4 

Viola alata, in Java, 112 ; patrinii, 430 
Vocabulary of Timor words, 491 
Vocabulary of Ke' and Timor-laut 

words, 383 
Volcanic flora in Java, 78, 114 

Wai-apu river, 393 



Wai, Bay of, gr^at beauty of submarine 
gardens in, 293 

Waitidal, visit to, 327 

Wakolo lake, superstitions about, 405 ; 
storms on, 40b' ; no fish in, 406 ; birds 
of, 406 ; herbarium from, lost, 407 ; 
natives about, 401, 402; their physical 
characters, 402 ; ornaments of, 402 ; 
dress of, 403 

Wallace Channel, in Timor-laut, 331 

Wallace, Mr. A. It., collected birds in 
Sumatra, 268 ; plants from Timor, 
498 ; on birds of Burn, 409 ; on great 
mammalia of Sumatra, 165 

War cerenionks in Timor, 445-446, 
450, 451 

Wasilale', camp at, 398 ; dwellings at, 

1 399 

Water house, Mr. Charles O., on Cole- 
optera from Timor-laut, 370; de- 
scriptions of iiisacts by, 276 

Water-lilies in the rice-fields, 170 

Waterproofing in Bum, 403 

Water roads in Sumatran forest, 254 

Wau-wau Gihbon, 70 

Wave, earthquake, Keeling Islands in. 
19 

Wayang, Mount, in Java, 108 

White ants, 73, 74 

White-eyes {Zosterops), 210, 212, 394 ; 
in Banda, 287 

Whortleberry, "Long-age," 209, flO 

Wife-clans in Timor, 457 

Wild dogs in Java, 116; native 
accounts of habits o p , and super- 
stitions about, 116 

Wiles', James, plants from Timor, 497 

Wollastonia asperrima, 447 

Woman, position of the, in Passumah, 
196; in Tmior-laut, 315; in Burn, 
400 ; in Timor, 463 

Wood-carving in Kenali, 16S : inKisam, 
180 ; anions; Timorese, 464 ; in Ti- 
mor-laut, 317 

Words, Buruese, 411 

Xeropteryx simplicior, 177 
Xylocopa, 72 

Zethvs cyanopteras, mimicry in, 72. 73 
Zippel's plants from Timor, 497 
Zizyphus jujnba, 480 
Zosterops, Moris, 287 ; chlorata, 210 : 
212 ; fertilising Vaccinium, 210 



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Stanley's Congo, and the Founding of its Free State. 

A Story of Work and Exploration. By H. M. Stanley. Dedicated by 
Special Permission to H.M. the King of the Belgians. In 2 vols.,8vo, 
Cloth, with over One Hundred full-page and smaller Illustrations, two 
large Maps, and several smaller ones. (Nearly Ready.) 

Stanley's Through the Dark Continent. 

Through the Dark Continent; or, The Sources of the Nile, Around the 
Great Lakes of Equatorial Africa, and Down the Livingstone River to 
the Atlantic Ocean. With 149 Illustrations and 10 .Maps. By Him:. 
M. Stanley. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $10 00; Sheep, $12 00; Half Morocco, 
$15 00. 

Stanley's Coomassic and Magdala. 

Coomassie and Magdala: a Story of Two British Campaigns in Africa. 

By Henry M. Stanley. With Maps and Illustrations. 8vo, < loth, $3 50. 

Cameron's Across Africa. 

Across Africa. By Verney Lovett Cameron, C.B., D.C L, Com 

mander Royal Navy, Gold Medalist Royal Geographical Boi &c. 

With a Map and numerous Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00. 



Valuable Works of Exploration and Adventure. 



Livingstone's Last Journals, 

The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to 
his Death. Continued by a Narrative of his Last Moments and Suffer- 
ings, obtained from his Faithful Servants Chuma and Susi. By Horace 
Waller, F.R.G.S., Rector of Twywell, Northampton. With Maps and 
Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00; Sheep, $6 00. Cheap Popular Edition, 
8vo, Cloth, with Map and Illustrations, $2 50. 

Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi. 

Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries; and of 
the Discovery of the Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa. 1858-1864. By David 
and Charles Livingstone. With Map and Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, 
$5 00; Sheep, $5 50. 

Long's Central Africa, 

Central Africa: Naked Truths of Naked People. An Account of Expe- 
ditions to the Lake Victoria Nyanza and the Makraka Niam-Niam, West 
of the Bahr-El-Abiad (White Nile). By Col. C. Chaille Long, of the 
Egyptian Staff. Illustrated from Col. Long's own Sketches. With Map 
8vo, Cloth, $2 50. 

AshangO'Land, 

A Journey to Ashango-Land, and Further Penetration into Equatorial 
Africa. By Paul B. Du Chaillu. Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00; 
Sheep, $5 50; Half Calf, $7 25. 

The Land of the Midnight Sun, 

The Land of the Midnight Sun. Summer and Winter Journeys through 
Sweden, Norway, Lapland, and Northern Finland. By Pall B. Du 
Chaillu. With Map and 235 Illustrations. In Two Volumes. 8vo, 
Cloth, $7 50; Half Calf, $12 00. 

Thomson's Voyage of the "Challenger," 

The Voyage of the "Challenger." The Atlantic: An Account of the 
General Results of the Voyage during the Year 1873 and the Early Part 
of the Year 1876. By Sir C. Wyville Thomson, F.R.S. With a Por- 
trait of the Author, many Colored Maps, Temperature Charts, and Illus- 
trations. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $12 00. 

Spry's Cruise of the "Challenger." 

The Cruise of Her Majesty's Ship "Challenger." Voyages over many 
Seas, Scenes in many Lands. By W. J. J. Spry, R.N. With Maps and 
Illustrations. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $2 00. 



Valuable Works of Exploration and Adventure. 



Schweinfiirlh's Heart of Africa. 

The Heart of Africa ; or, Three Years' Travels and Adventures in the 
Unexplored Regions of the Centre of Africa. From 1868 to 1871. By 
Dr. Georg Schweinfurth. Translated hy Ellen E. Fkkwer. With 
an Introduction by Winwood Reade. Illustrated by about 130 Wood- 
cuts from Drawings made by the Author, and with Two Maps. 2 vols., 
8vo, Cloth, $8 00. 

Spekc's Africa. 

Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. By John Hanning 
Speke, Captain II. M. Indian Army, Fellow and Gold Medalist of the 
Royal Geographical Society, Hon. Corresponding Member and Gold Med- 
alist of the French Geographical Society, etc. With Maps and Portraits 
and numerous Illustrations, chiefly from Drawings by Captain Grant. 
8vo, Cloth, $4 00 ; Sheep, $4 50. 

Baker's Isinailia, 

Ismailia : a Narrative of the Expedition to Central Africa for the Sup- 
pression of the Slave-Trade, organized by Ismail, Khedive op Egypt. 
By Sir Samuel White Baker, Pasha, M.A., F.R.S., F.R.G.S., Major- 
General of the Ottoman Empire, late Governor-General of the Equatorial 
Nile Basin, &c.,«tc. With Maps, Portraits, and upward of 50 full-page 
Illustrations by Zwecker and Durand. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00 ; Half Calf, 



Reade's Savage Africa. 

Savage Africa : being the Narrative of a Tour in Equatorial, South-west- 
ern, and North-western Africa ; with Notes on the Habits of the Gorilla ; 
on the Existence of Unicorns and Tailed Men ; on the Slave-Trade ; on 
the Origin, Character, and Capabilities of the Negro, and on the Future 
Civilization of Western Africa. By W. Winwood Reade. With Illus- 
trations and a Map. 8vo, Cloth, $4 00 ; Sheep, $4 50 ; Half Calf, $6 25. 

Prime's Boat-Life in Egypt and Nubia. 

Boat-Life in Egypt and Nubia. By William C. Prime. Illustrated. 
12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 

Vanibrey's Central Asia. 

Travels in Central Asia : being the Account of a Journey from Teheran 
across the Turkoman Desert, on the Eastern Shore of the Caspian, to 
Khiva, Bokhara, and Samarcand, performed in the year 18G3. By An- 
minitjs Yambert, Member of the Hungarian Academy of Pesth. by v, 1mm 
he was sent on this Scientific Mission. With Map and Woodcut 
Cloth, $4 50 ; Half Calf, $6 75. 



4 Valuable Works of Exploration and Adventure. 

Thomson's Malacca, Indo-Chiria, and China. 

The Straits of Malacca, Indo-China, and China ; or, Ten Years' Travels, 
Adventures, and Residence Abroad. By J. Thomson. With over GO 
Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $4 00. 

Thomson's Southern Palestine and Jerusalem, 

The Land and the Book : Southern Palestine and Jerusalem. By Will- 
iam M. Thomson, D.D., Forty -five Years a Missionary in Syria and Pal- 
estine. 140 Illustrations and Maps. Square 8vo, Cloth, $6 00 ; Sheep, 
$7 00 ; Half Morocco, $0 50 ; Full Morocco, Gilt Edges, $10 00. 

Thomson's Central Palestine and Phoenicia. 

The Land and the Book : Central Palestine and Phoenicia. By William 
M. Thomson, D.D. 130 Illustrations and Maps. Square 8vo, Cloth, 
$6 00 ; Sheep, $7 00 ; Half Morocco, $8 50 ; Full Morocco, Gilt Edges, 
$10 00. 

Thomson's East of the Jordan. 

The Land and the Book : East of the Jordan. By William M. Thom- 
son, D.D. Illustrations and Maps. Square 8vo. (Nearly Beady.) 

Schlieniann's Ilios. 

Ilios, the City and Country of the Trojans. The Results of Researches 
and Discoveries on the Site of Troy and throughout the Troad in the 
years 1871-'72-'73-'78-79; including an Autobiography of the Author. 
By Dr. Henry Schliemann, F.S.A., F.R.I. British Architects ; Author 
of "Troy and its Remains," "Mycensa," &c. With a Preface, Appen- 
dices, and Notes by Professors Rudolf Virchow, Max M tiller, A. H. Sayce, 
J. P. Mahaffy, H. Brugsch-Bey, P. Ascherson, M. A. Postolaccas, M. E. 
Burnouf, Mr. F. Calvert, and Mr. A. J. Duffield. With Maps, Plans, and 
about 1800 Illustrations. Imperial 8vo, Cloth, $12 00 ; Half Morocco, 
$15 00. 

Schlieniann's Troja. 

Troja. Results of the Latest Researches and Discoveries on the Site of 
Homer's Troy, and in the Heroic Tumuli and other Sites, made in the 
year 1882, and a Narrative of a Journey in the Troad in 1881. By Dr. 
Henry Schliemann, Author of ' ' Ilios, " &c. Preface by Professor A. H. 
Sayce. With 150 Woodcuts and 4 Maps and Plans, pp. xl.,434. Svo, 
Cloth, $7 50; Half Morocco, $10 00. 



Published by HAEPER & BROTHERS, New York. 

C3?" IIakpeb & BnoTincus will send any of the above works by mail, postage prepaid, to any 
part of the United States or Canada, on receipt cf the price. 



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